


Sun Bound: A Burning Crusade Era Story

by MartyMuses, TMirai



Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Angst, Drug Use, Dubious Consent, Erotica, Gay Sex, Group Sex, Homoeroticism, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-22
Updated: 2015-10-22
Packaged: 2018-04-27 14:47:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 29,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5052811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MartyMuses/pseuds/MartyMuses, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TMirai/pseuds/TMirai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Broken by the Lich King’s attack on the Sunwell and the death of most of its people, Quel’thalas continues to shatter. As Kael’thas actions further take his people down a dark, twisted path of fel magic and enslavement, the remaining Sin’dorei are driven farther apart from each other. Yet their dividing line is a thin one. The Sunblade and Sunsworn hold the the Isle of Quel’Danas just across the waters from Silvermoon City where the Regent Lord Lor’themar guides those that rebuke the Burning Legion.</p><p>Kept tucked away on the Sunwell Plateau, Aldrae Sunbound is the last of the extended Sunstrider kin. The Sunblade guard him within the Plateau’s seemingly impenetrable walls in the event their beloved Prince should fall. With only his Keeper Meleis Tenebrous as company, the young priest can do nothing but wait in between being placated and subdued by Meleis’ depraved desires and gluttonous indulgences.</p><p>What Aldrae is waiting for (or what he wants to happen), he doesn’t know. Yet he is certain everything he has ever known will come to an end. Somehow.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Fel Pleasures

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written by MartyMuses

Meleis liked to watch almost as much as he liked to have Aldrae to himself. As long as the guards weren’t too rough, and as long as they did not finish inside his charge he was willing to share; at least for his own titillation.

He sat now in one of the fine, high backed chairs, facing the bed. His dark warlock’s robes were pulled up enough to allow him to touch himself languidly as he watched the other two men have their way with the young priest. One finger twirled slowly in a lock of his long black hair, his fel green eyes narrow glowing slits. A blood thistle pipe was held loosely in his full lips, a lazy line of smoke drifting into the stale air.

He had the air of a man observing an experiment.

On the bed Aldrae panted, his body pressed between the two larger Sunsworn guards. His pale skin was flushed and his arms trembled as he tried to keep himself somewhat upright as he sat atop the first, straddling his hips with his cock already buried deep inside of him. The second was behind him, one hand grasping his hip firmly as he grunted, trying to push his rigid member inside as well. Aldrae wasn’t sure if he liked the feeling or not, he was never quite sure. It was hard to grasp exactly what he was feeling through the blood thistle haze. But he knew if he performed as Meleis wanted he would be rewarded.

His cock was soft between his legs, but he’d already come at least twice. It was hard to keep track. The second guard’s cock pushed into him with a popping feeling that made him gasp and then groan as the aching stretch registered. His eyes opened a little. The guard’s face twisted and distorted in front of him and it made him dizzy, so he shut them again quickly.

“Take him all the way,” Meleis said, his voice soft, but holding an undeniable note of command.

The second guard glanced at the warlock, his expression a little nervous. He didn’t want to hurt the boy. Bringing damage to him would likely mean his life. But he also did not dare to disobey the Keeper. Biting his lower lip he rolled his hips forward, grunting as the snugness of the fit was almost uncomfortable. The first guard moaned lewdly and then started to buck, causing Aldrae to cry out in surprise.

The two men began moving together, fucking the young priest in tandem, their cocks rubbing against one another inside his tight body. The first held his arms, keeping him from pulling away should he suddenly decide to do so. The second held his hips, so that he could not disrupt their rhythm. Aldrae was caught between them, powerless to do anything but let them fuck him.

His pale body was flushed pink and it trembled as his strength began to wane even further. He could do little but moan and cry out, his soft pink lips open, a line of saliva running from the corner of his mouth down his chin. His cock was hard again, he could feel it swinging heavily between his legs, bumping and rubbing against the other men. He started to squirm, making fussy sounds, but the two men’s grip on him didn’t let him do much. He panted as the churning of their cocks began a hot churning in his belly.

“Nnn... N-no... ah!” something was rising up inside him, powerful and frightening. He heard one of the guards snicker, his grip tightening on his arms. The pushing feeling inside him became more forceful, its reach deeper, and he cried out, closing his eyes and shaking his head as the sensations assaulted him like battering waves. It was like the time he got caught in the tide as a child... the waves pushing and pulling him along, his small body powerless to do anything about it. He’d been so frightened.

He struggled and cried out, but he couldn’t get away from the waves and the feeling rising within him. And then he was screaming, but it didn’t sound afraid. Something was releasing from his body and with it went his thoughts, leaving his mind blissfully blank.

Aldrae’s seed was splattered on his and the first guard’s stomach.

“That’s enough,” Meleis said, letting out a bored sounding sigh.

Both guards looked over at him with incredulous expressions, but both also quickly stopped the rocking of their hips, though the looks on their faces said it was torture to do so. Meleis pulled his robe back to cover himself. “You know your filthy common seed is not to marr his royal body. Go finish up with each other somewhere else.” He waved a dismissive hand as he stood.

The two men continued to balk at him for a moment longer and then the second hastily pulled back, pulling his rigid cock from Aldrae first. The smaller elf squeaked and then slumped to the side, completely spent. The first guard quickly followed his companion, sliding off the bed.   
  
“Your clothes are in the antechamber. Finish there is you want and then go back to your posts,” he instructed, watching the two men quickly scramble for the adjacent room. He waited for them to be gone and the heavy curtain to fall back into place before he approached the bed.

He ran his long-fingered pale hands over Aldrae’s slender thighs and fuller hips, pushing him gently onto his back. He trailed one long nail through the little mess on his soft stomach. “Did you enjoy that?” he asked softly.

Aldrae was on the verge of unconsciousness and didn’t answer. Meleis chuckled, taking the pipe from his lips and sitting on the edge of the bed, sliding one hand under Aldrae’s shoulders so he could prop him up a little. He brought the pipe to his lips, holding it patiently. After a moment the young elf’s nostrils flared and his eyelids fluttered open. He closed his lips around the end of the piped with an eagerness that belied his lethargy. Aldrae inhaled deeply, and it took only a moment for the thistle to take effect as he propped himself up on his own and took the pipe in one hand, continuing to puff as he became more alert.

That was how the drug worked. An immediate rush of energy followed by a prolonged period of hazy sluggishness. Both states were pleasurable in their own ways.

Aldrae exhaled fully with a little moan of relief. Meleis pulled the pipe away as he did, putting it back between his lips. He reached out to gently stroke Aldrae’s round face. “You did very well. I enjoyed that. You seemed to as well.”

Aldrae just looked at the other man, his expression unreadable. Meleis smirked and then stood. “Do you want your reward now or later.”

Aldrae’s long, expressive ears perked and his expression changed, becoming excited and needy. “Now. Please Meleis.”

Meleis smiled, his expression indulgent. “I was hoping you’d say that, because I’m very ready to give it to you.” He undid the sash of his robe as he spoke, letting it fall open so that Aldrae could see his fully erect cock. The young priest’s eyes fell from Meleis’ face to his crotch and then back, now biting his lower lip.

The warlock walked languidly to the locked trunk at the foot of Aldrae’s bed, reaching into his pocket for the key. He pulled out a large box, taking it to the bedside table and unlocking it with another key. His charge moved closer to him on the bed, he couldn’t help it. Drawn to the box and its contents like a moth to flame.

“Do you want one or both?”

“Both,” he answered quickly, his eyes flicking from the box to Meleis’ face, hoping he would give his consent.

The warlock smiled faintly. “Very well. You deserve whatever you want.”

Aldrae smiled, his face lighting up with excitement and anticipation as he lay back down on the bed. He grinned, biting his lower lip as he spread his legs, planting his feet on the bedding.

Meleis chuckled as he opened the box. Within were several fel crystals carefully crafted into sexual apparati: a large phallus, a bell-shaped instrument with a flared base, and a long, thin crystal rod.They glowed brightly, indicating they still held a great amount of power. He didn’t even have to touch them to feel their strong magic.

Aldrae, too, could feel it. He let out a thready sigh of need and longing, his magical addiction flaring up as their closeness. “Meleis, please hurry,” he breathed.

“Patience, Aldrae,” he warlock chided softly as he debated which implement he wanted first. After a moment he took the bell-shaped plug from the plush velvet lining. It was warm to the touch and vibrated faintly with the magical energy contained within. “Turn. Bring your orifice to the edge of the bed,” he commanded softly.

The young elf did as he was told, and quickly, turning on the bed and pushing his ass to the very edge, toes curling at the edge of the mattress, legs wide.

“You should be slick enough from those two barbarians,” Meleis mused and brought the plug to Aldrae’s anus and began to slowly push it inside, forcing his hole open wider with the increasing girth of it.

Aldrae gasped and shuddered at the first contact, able to feel the magic already eagerly flowing into his body. He moaned as it was pushed further inside, and his fingers clawed and twisted in the bedding. He tossed his white-blond curls, moaning louder and louder as it slowly entered him, the combination of the surging, addictive power, and the sexual nature of its penetration filling him with arousal and pleasure nothing else had yet been able to rival

By the time the crystal was fully inside him, the tapered and then flared base keeping it from easily coming back out, his cock was half hard again and Aldrae was writhing and moaning mindlessly on the bed. His hands tangled in his own hair and then began to move over his sensitive body, touching himself as his hips rolled and his back arched. “Oooh... yes...” he moaned and hissed. “Meleis... it feels so good...”

“I know,” the warlock murmured, kissing the inside of Aldrae’s knee as he bent over him, the long, thin crystal rod in his fingers. “I am devoted to making you feel good, my liege.” He kissed down the inside of Aldrae’s thigh, lowering himself onto his knees at the edge of the bed. He kissed the base of Aldrae’s cock and laved his tongue over his small, tight sac before beginning to suck on it gently.

The added sexual stimulation made Aldrae cry out, and then sob softly in pleasure, his chest rising and falling quickly with the increased speed of his now racing heart. Meleis smiled to himself and then took his charge’s hardening member in his mouth for a few moments, suckling it back into full hardness before standing up again. He ran his tongue over the long fel crystal rod.  

“Hold still, Aldrae,” he commanded in his soft voice, and he waited for the near mindless priest to do so before he grasped his cock, rubbing his thumb over the slit at the head and then slowly pushing the thin rod inside.

Aldrae went completely still, his body tensing to the point that his muscles trembled as he was slowly sounded with the crystal. He made a soft croaking sound as the faint vibrations shuddered through his cock and into the very core of his body. “Uungh...”

Meleis stepped back then, watching Aldrae with hooded eyes. For a few more moments the young elf merely lay still on the bed, the sensations and the power of the crystals flooding through him. And then he began to writhe again, his movements and moans of pleasure mindless. For a few long minutes Meleis just enjoyed the sight of the pretty man wriggling across the bed like a lynx in heat, rubbing his body against the silken sheets and with his own hands, moaning and babbling senselessly in his pleasure and the addictive rush of fel magic.

The warlock took his time taking a few more drags on his pipe before setting it in its stand and crawling up on the bed, walking across it on his knees to Aldrae. He gripped his hips tightly, yanking him around where he wanted him. Aldrae hardly seemed to notice, just yelping softly and continuing to writhe in his grasp. Meleis smirked as he pulled his robe open further, pressing himself between Aldrae’s slender thighs to begin rubbing their cocks together, frotting against him with quick, hard rolls of his hips.

Aldrae gasped and opened his eyes blearily. They blazed with fel light, brighter green than usual as the magic coursed through him. “Aungh!” he cried out loudly, pale face flushed a pretty pink as he bucked back up against his Keeper. The pleasure was so intense he was mindless with it, body moving and acting purely on instinct.

“You’re so beautiful, Aldrae,” Meleis hissed softly, running his long-nailed fingers over his torso, the tips of his nails scratching his white skin lightly. The young priest was beautiful to him, even precious, and all the more so because he was completely in his control. It was he that gave him his blood thistle, his fel magic, his physical pleasure. Aldrae was his to love. His to reward. And his to punish.

Meleis reached down between Aldrae’s legs, fingers closing around the base of the crystal plug. “I think you have had enough of this,” he murmured and then yanked the object from his anus.

Aldrae gasped and cried out both at the pain of the sudden yank and the loss of the surging power that filled him from the crystal. “N-.. nooo...,” he whimpered, but Meleis ignored his protests, pushing the implement aside.

“I’ll let you keep the other a little longer,” he murmured soothingly. petting his hands over Aldrae’s chest. The young priest was beginning to grow delirious and disorganized in his movements, losing his faculties as the withdrawal from the blood thistle and the after affect of gorging on the fel magic set in. This was how Meleis loved him best. His body and mind utterly compliant.

Grasping Aldrae’s hips he yanked them up so that he could push inside him, groaning as he took him to the hilt in one thrust. He watched as Aldrae hiccuped on a gasp, and tossed his head a little, but his movements had grown lethargic, his gaze bleary. As Meleis began to fuck him hard and deep Aldrae made indistinct sounds, little grunts and moans and fussy noises, but he hardly moved at all. His body limp, weak, and completely under Meleis’ control.

“You feel so good,” the warlock hissed. “My perfect little priest.” There was an indulgent tone to his voice, but also a coldness there, and his eyes looked down at Aldrae with a possessive glint. He licked his lips as he continued to fuck his small, almost feminine body into the bed.

It didn’t take too long for the warlock’s pleasure to build into a tight ball in his belly, thrumming there like a plucked harp string. “I’m almost ready, Aldrae,” he murmured. “Do you want me to mark you as only I am allowed to do?”

The young priest just groaned, his head lolling to one side. His mouth was open as he panted mindlessly.

Meleis smiled at that. “Very well. Shall I let you come with me?”

Aldrae didn’t respond this time, his legs limply spread around Meleis’ hips. The warlock chuckled, “Your tolerance is slipping, Aldrae.” Taking a deep breath he grit his teeth and increased the pace of his thrusting, grunting and growling between his teeth as he pushed himself towards climax.  Just as he was at the very edge he grasped the end of the fel crystal rod buried in Aldrae’s cock and pulled it out with one jerk.

The priest did react to this, his eyes suddenly opening wide as he cried out sharply, the pain of the extraction bringing on his orgasm. His hips bucked weakly as his cock spit out only a small amount of seed before his body fell limp again and Aldrae just moaned faintly as Meleis buried himself hilt deep one last time and came inside his young charge.

“Yesss...” the dark haired elf hissed as his hot, thick seed flooded into Aldrae’s body. He loved finishing inside him, knowing he was the only one who could. The others could fuck him, but this made the other man his. He had held off his orgasm so long that his seed overflowed Aldrae’s body, dribbling out around his cock and dripping down onto the bed.

Meleis hung over Aldrae for a few long moment, panting and shuddering as his orgasm slowly ebbed. Finally with a grunt he pulled out of the priest, leaving him limp on the bed. His chest rose and fell shallowly. Meleis stood, pulling his robe closed again. He leaned over to run his fingers through Aldrae’s sweat damp, tangled hair, stroking his face, turning it towards him. Aldrae’s eyes still blazed brightly with fel energy, but his gaze was blank and distant. Meleis smiled and leaned down to press a kiss against the priest’s unresponsive lips. “What a beautiful face you’re making, my love,” he murmured before straightening up again.

He stroked Aldrae’s cheek. “Enjoy your trip. I’ll be here when you come back.”


	2. Gilded Cage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written by T. Mirai

Aldrae dreamed of birds. Dozens of them, their orange and red feathers even more brilliant in the dying sunlight of dusk. He lifted his small hands toward the sky, as if he could catch them, and watched their gilded silhouettes pass through his fingers. The other Quel’dorei children flitted about the grassy hill in their own flocks. Their giddy laughter pealed above the din of cheery music and adult conversation. In his sleep, he could almost smell the new Spring blossoms, the grass moist with sea mist, and savory meats and sweet vegetables roasting over fire pits.

When he woke, he knew he was far from that time, and even more distant from the Quel'thalas he remembered. The young priest laid in his bed for several minutes, perhaps even an hour, trying to hold on to the residual feelings of his dream. Yet it slowly dissipated into vague scenes, allowing the heavy fog of his hangover to roll in….

The events before his sleep were just as muddled in his mind, but the remnants of them remained. His head felt fuzzy and hot. Everything below his chin was heavy, as if each limb was tethered to his fine bed. When he gingerly sat up, a sharp soreness throbbed in his backside and loins.

Groaning, the priest doubled over on his side and curled into himself, though that only made the ache all the more intense. He was alone in his darkened chambers, but still he blushed as he reached beneath his rump. His small fingers probed the swollen pucker of muscle there and he yelped softly. Pressing his other hand over his equally sore genitals, Aldrae called the Light to his palms. The healing warmth against his nethers was bare and weak, but wonderful. The young elf sighed as the pangs of his body dulled to a tolerable ache.

Afterward, he laid bonelessly in his bed for nearly an hour, staring at the dark, draped canopy above. Aldrae could not even guess what time of day it could be. The heavy curtains were securely closed over the tall windows. He could have been sleeping for a few hours or an entire day. What time had it even been when Meleis came to his chambers?

The ravenous emptiness of his stomach and the fullness of his bladder pulled the priest from the comfort of his bed, and he staggered into the adjacent bathing room. The elegant space was cheerily illuminated, yellow light spilling across the marbled tile and gilded fixtures. Aldrae felt a great relief to feel the afternoon sun on his pale body. To have lost an entire day to his inebriated haze would have made him feel melancholy.

By the time he had finished using the privy and drew himself a large, hot bath, he could hear the rustling of his servants in his bedroom. They were probably drawing his curtains and making his bed. Or perhaps cleaning up after whatever lewd acts Meleis had subjected him to. After, they would probably have a midday prepared and waiting for him.

The thought of which made him suddenly very irritated. He didn’t want to be disturbed. He did not want to have to endure the presence of his servants, to hear their practiced, forced subservience as they obediently waited on him. He did not want to look into their eyes and see that they knew.

Sinking down into the perfumed water, Aldrae closed his eyes and let his body float limply in the enormous tub. He wanted his mind to be as equally relaxed, but it was difficult. He kept thinking of Meleis, of how pleased his Keeper must have been when Aldrae came to him yesterday. To ask. No. To beg. Aching with a need so deep it hurt. And ashamed. Not because of the need, but because Meleis had been right. He was the only person that could satiate his body.

His bath was nearly tepid by the time one of the servants lightly knocked on the door to ask if he was alright. Aldrae could have soaked in the cooling water for hours. If the servants were aware he was awake, then his Keeper was too. Meleis would frown upon him stewing in a tub of cold, dirty water.

Pressed clothes hung waiting for him on his boudoir, as well as a lounging robe folded neatly on his bed. He slipped the robe and his slippers on before entering the adjacent parlor. As expected, a generous midday meal was waiting for him, accompanied by two elves to serve it. They lifted the covers from the platters, and Aldrae recognized all of his favorite dishes. A light broth of herbs and vegetables. Fizzy bloodberry juice. Flaky, buttery pastries filled with stewed meats. And a sizeable custard cake topped with sweet cream and sliced strawberries.

Next to his empty plate was a small bronze censer, wrought into the shape of vines twisting around one another to create the bowl and cover. To its side was a familiar wooden box.

Aldrae didn’t realize how long he had hesitated until one of the servants moved to pull back his chair. Blushing faintly, the young priest murmured his thanks before sitting and allowing the elf to spread his napkin across his lap.

His mouth watered as he watched fragrant soup being ladled into his bowl, and his stomach gave a loud growl. The melodic chime of the censer was distracting, however. The other servant pulled the top from the ornate bowl, then opened the small lacquered box. Aldrae’s nostrils flared at the faint and alluring aroma, and his body tensed with an even deeper want than that of hunger.

“W-wait,” he croaked, his voice thin. The young elf cleared his throat before speaking with more authority. “That won’t be necessary. You can take it away.”

The servant looked baffled by his words, even exchanging a glance with the other. “But, my lord,” he began warily. “Master Tenebrous gave his approval for you to partake. He said you deserved–”

“And I said it was unnecessary,” Aldrae snapped with a hardness that surprised even him. Deflating immediately, his face burned with shame as the servant hastily closed the box filled with fine, fel-laced bloodthistle and took the censer away. “Thank you. I would rather just enjoy my meal without it.”

The man nodded, looking shamed himself. “Yes, Master Sunbound.”

When the bloodthistle and its burner were taken away and his plate placed in front of him, Aldrae took up his utensils, too hungry to wait any longer. His attendants took a polite, but close, stance near his table as their young lord devoured his breakfast. A ravenous appetite was one of the after-effects of a fel crystal binge. There was plenty of food to satiate Aldrae; he knew, undoubtedly, that the generous spread of his favorite dishes, like the bloodthistle, was compliments of his Keeper.

The young priest ate until there were nothing but crumbs left in every platter. The heaviness of his large meal made him feel even more lethargic; he could have gone right back to his bed, burrowed in the blankets, and slept until the next morning. Instead, Aldrae allowed another set of attendants to dress him for the day, though not in his usual robes.

His riding boots clicked rhythmically on the gleaming floor as he walked in the direction of Meleis’ study. He tried to avoid the corridors where he knew the Sunsworn would be patrolling, but it was difficult. Aldrae had not missed the fact that their numbers had been increased in the last few days. Clad in their gilded armor and crimson robes, the guards interrupted their slow patrolling walks through the Sunwell Plateau’s halls to bow to Aldrae as he passed.

He could not see their faces beneath the golden brims of their helms, and even if he did it was unlikely Aldrae could identify most of them. His gaze briefly met those of the stoic Sunsworn guards he passed and he wondered if any of them had been one of the two men his Keeper chose to play with him. In their nights of indulgence, Meleis titillated himself as much as he did the younger elf. He could barely remember the faces of last night’s selected participants, let alone the color of their hair or their height.

The shape of their bodies, pressing hard against both sides of his form, was easier to recall. As was the rough grip of their hands, their husky grunts, and the deep, aching pressure of their flesh digging and thrusting into his own. The memory echoed on his skin stronger than it did in his drug addled mind. Face suddenly aflame with embarrassment, the priest swiftly moved past the guards.

He paused at the double doors with patterned frosted glass to draw in a slow breath. His cheeks and ear tips were hot, and his heart fluttered. Neither would completely quell no matter how long he stood at Meleis’ door. He lifted his hand to knock.

“Come in, Aldrae,” called the voice from inside the room, startling the young priest before his knuckles touched the glass. Wetting his lips and smoothing his moist hands against his breeches, Aldrae obeyed.

Meleis’ position had afforded him one of the larger chambers of the Sunwell Plateau’s western wing where the Sunblade operated. The tall, arched windows were open, their curtains neatly tied back. Warm sunlight and a gentle breeze lofted into the chamber, gleaming against foreign apparatuses and rustling book pages littered across every tabletop surface. Expectedly, Aldrae’s Keeper stood at one of his many workstations. He held a black crystal the size of an egg up to a mounted magnifying glass, staring at it with a bored expression.

It wasn’t until Aldrae came to stand on the finely woven rug near the desk that Meleis looked away from his work toward him. His full, sensual mouth curved into a faint smile that was as handsomely smug as his hooded eyes. “Ah, good morning, my lord,” he said with a shallow bow. “I’m glad to see you’ve finally chosen to awaken. Did you rest well?”

Aldrae felt a little miffed at Meleis’ slight jab, and he hoped it did not show on his face. “Yes, I did, thank you,” he replied, keeping his hand rigid at his sides to resist fumbling with his tunic. “And I enjoyed my breakfast as well. Thank you for the lovely spread.”

Meleis’ small smirk remained on his lips and he made the barest incline of his head before turning back toward his desk. The warlock’s long, graceful fingers plucked up the opaque stone again.  Aldrae was relieved he did not ask about the bloodthistle, but instead, “Where did you go last night?”

“To the Fire Finch Festival. The one held in Spring, near the Whitesun Lake.” Aldrae’s eyes drifted to the open window and the clear, cerulean blue sky beyond it. The corners of his lips quirked up with fondness. “I was young and playing with the other children on the hill. We were trying to catch the fire finches’ silhouettes in our hands. I could almost smell the spice bread and meat pies…”

“Mm,” Meleis hummed, as if unimpressed, as he always did. Aldrae didn’t know if the warlock actually cared where he “went” on his fel crystal trips, but he always asked. The priest speculated it had more to do with his Keeper’s need to know everything, especially in regard to his ward. “I see you are dressed for travel. Where are you trying to go this morning?”

Aldrae had steeled himself for this moment, yet even as he lifted his chin and straightened his back his belly churned nervously. “I thought–I mean, I’m going to go riding along the pier near the Terrace,” he replied, trying to inflect a casual tone of command in his voice. “I tire of being cooped up, and it’s such a nice day. So. I’m going out.”

Melies did not reply, nor did he look at Aldrae. Instead, he studied the soulstone as if it were just slightly more interesting than his ward. After several seconds, he put it down and plucked up a long feathered quill. The tap of its nib inside the glass ink pot was loud, as was the scratch of its tip against the large book splayed on the desk.

“It’s too dangerous,” he finally replied in a sighing drawl. “You should just remain on the Plateau.”

The priest’s haughty facade wilted quickly and visibly. Meleis words were not a suggestion. “But…it’s…it’s just to the western end of the island,” Aldrae huffed, trying in vain to keep the petulant whine from his tone. “I would only be gone for a couple of hours, at most. I can take a guard with me.”

Again, the warlock was slow to reply, giving Aldrae’s disappointment plenty of time to roil toward indignant anger. “The distance nor who accompanies you would not lessen the danger.”

Aldrae snorted, folding his arms tightly across his chest. “You would let the guards have my body, but not protect it? Have the Sunsworn become so mistrustful of the Sunblade?”

“I would hope, my lord, that you would trust my council as your Keeper–” Meleis began, his tone even more blase. If Meleis was at all bothered by Aldrae’s retort, he did not show such.

“What’s the point of having my own home guard if you don’t trust them to take me just a stone’s throw from these walls?!” Aldrae blurted, his tone rising as Meleis’ remained placid.

“–and as your Keeper, it is my duty to see to your safety within and outside of these walls–”

“If I am supposed to be the Regent Prince of our people, I should be allowed to do more than just lay about in my room, indulging your–!”

“Aldrae.” There was finally a hardness in his Keeper’s voice, and his cold fel-fire eyes stared disapprovingly at his ward. That was all that was required to deflate every ounce of bravado from the younger elf. His ears and head sank miserably toward the floor and his face burned hotly. Not with anger from being denied, but with shame from having let Meleis, again, command him.

The swish of Melies’ robes around his legs was as quiet as his steps on the carpet. “Aldrae,” he spoke in a softer tone when he stood in front of him. His hands cupped the priest’s round cheeks and lifted his gaze evenly with his own. The warlock had never used any sort of will-controlling powers against him, yet Aldrae felt incapable of looking away.

“Aldrae…our people would mourn openly in the streets if any ill ever befell you,” Meleis murmured with a doting tone that was as false as his words. “Those loyal to the Dynasty and our beloved Sun King trust me to protect you. To protect your House.” The warlock sighed, brows furrowing, as if troubled. “Yes, there are those of false loyalty among us, even among the Sunblade. They doubt the actions of your dear cousin, our Prince. They criticize the sacrifices he himself has made and requires of all of us, even as they wear his colors and claim the name Sin'dorei. The name he has given us.”

Stroking his hand over his face and carding his fingers through his fleecy blond hair, Meleis petted Aldrae as if he were subduing an agitated animal. “I know my overprotectiveness frustrates you, my lord, but I would rather keep you close than be lenient and allow something to happen to you. I act only out of concern…out of love. If you were hurt, my heart would break. If you were taken from us and something happened to our Sun King, the Dynasty would crumble into dust. We would be left without a king.”

Aldrae barely held back a snort, and his eyes finally broke from Meleis’. He may have belonged to House Sunstrider, but the warlock had a better chance of being king of the Sin'dorei than Aldrae did. Belonging to the Sunbound family and holding a distant relation to Kael'thas may have entitled him to an, albeit distant, position to the throne. Yet even if his cousin were killed in battle, even if he were named king as the last potential heir to the Sunstrider dynasty, Aldrae would never rule Quel'thalas. He’d be a figurehead, at best, but more likely a doll, controlled by the hidden strings and mouthpieces of the Sunsworn that truly controlled Quel'thalas. His worth was in his name and what it symbolized only. Nothing else about him was worth more than any other elf. The Convocation may have been destroyed when the majority of its ruling families were killed, but many elves of renowned name were still alive and steadily climbing toward the new apex of Silvermoon’s elite.

Elves like Meleis Tenebrous, son of a House whose prestigious mages and priests had become prestigious warlocks among the first to take up the fel arts. Meleis was just a little older than Aldrae, yet far more accomplished and skilled in his talents, as well as vastly politically studied and established. Aldrae had taken up the priesthood and study of the Light by chance while tucked away in Stormwind with other Sunbound cousins and distant relations. Meleis’ entire family was ingrained in the arcane and held close to the Sunstriders and the Convocation for the past several generations.

Melies probably knew more about what it took to rule than Aldrae ever would. Or ever wanted to know. The last thing he ever wanted to be was king of the Sin'dorei.

“I’ll be distracted and away until the late evening. I may not have time to tend to you tonight, but…” A mischievous smile curled on Meleis’ mouth as he continued petting his charge. “Tomorrow…perhaps I will take you out for a little treat. Into the inner chambers of the Sunwell.”

Had Aldrae wanted to hide his excitement at Meleis words, it would have been impossible. His long ears wriggled and his eyes grew large and round. “Do…do you mean it?” the young man breathed quietly, his pulse throbbing quicker. “You’ll…you’ll take me to see…?”

He was so giddy from the mere possibility that he could not finish his sentence. The warlock smirked, obviously pleased by his reaction. “Only if you promise to remain here. Where you are safe.”

As loathe as he was to spend another day locked within the sprawling, yet constricting walls of the Sunwell Plateau, Aldrae could not snub Meleis offer. Not when he had begged for months to be granted entrance into the Shrine of the Eclipse. Meleis was manipulating him into being complacent, as always. And, as always, Aldrae found he had no choice but to bend to his whims.

“I…I promise,” Aldae replied with a forced smile.

Meleis nodded. His long, fingers stroked beneath Aldrae’s chin and the priest gave an involuntary shudder as heat bloomed in his face. “Will you miss me?”

The warlock’s voice was a low coo, and Aldrae’s face burned even hotter. The warmth spread quickly to lower areas and extremities. The immediate and intense need Meleis instilled in him made Aldrae feel as ashamed as it did aroused. No one had made him want so viscerally and entirely like Meleis did, but he was playing right into the warlock’s own desires. Which had nothing to do with physical pleasure.

“Yes,” Aldrae murmured, thinly and honestly.

Meleis teeth and eyes gleaming wolfishly. “Good.” His hands tilted Aldrae’s face up, and the young priest made a soft sound of surprise when his mouth pressed firmly against his. The warlock knew his affinity for kisses, and Aldrae knew Meleis’ apathy for them. They were a special treat he purposefully withheld.

Yet his Keeper kissed him, long, slow, and sensually. Sudden, hot tears burned behind Aldrae’s eyelids. The shame gnawed at him deeper and deeper, but still he pressed close to Meleis, fingers curled needily in the front of his robe. His soft, pink lips opened and pursed receptively to every skilled, wonderful motion of his Keeper’s mouth. Meleis slipped his tongue past Aldrae’s pink lips, and he graciously suckled and licked at it sensually. The older elf’s fingers pushed into his soft blonde curls, tugging and scratching lightly.

Aldrae was breathless when Meleis finally pulled away. He panted quietly as his Keeper thumbed over his moist, kiss-swollen lips. “Now. I must return to my preparations,” Meleis crooned in an almost loving tone as he stroked his cheeks one last time before gesturing toward the door. “Enjoy your day, my lord.”

Aldrae nodded wordlessly, hugging his arms around himself when Meleis drew back to return to his desk. He would say no more, Aldrae knew, so he shuffled awkwardly out of the warlock’s study, shutting the door behind him. He had no idea what he would do with his day now that it was bound to the halls of the Sunwell Plateau’s outer chambers. He had no idea how he would pass the hours when he would be consumed of thoughts of tomorrow. Of what, finally, he would be privileged to see.

Leaning against the sculpted pillar outside Meleis’ study, Aldrae’s arms tightened around his body. Meleis was often aloof with him, and infuriatingly vague and belittling; but he never lied. If he said he would take him into Shrine of the Eclipse, then tomorrow Aldrae would finally stand before the being made of pure Light. The naaru.

The priest worried his lower lip and pressed his hand against his chest. Even through his fine leather riding tunic, he could feel the hard throb of his pulse. Yet his heart no longer fluttered for Meleis and the carnal desires the warlock instilled in him. No one may have ever made him -want- as deeply as Meleis did, but something else satisfied him and filled him wholly in a way nobody or nothing else could. Not Meleis. Not bloodthistle or fel crystals.

Aldrae’s eyes closed, and tears bloomed behind them as he murmured a soft, reverent prayer under breath. He had dreamed of the fire finches, it was true, and he had gone to that sunny day of his youth in the high of his fel crystal trip. Yet that had not been the only place Aldrae had been. He had dreamed of the naaru too, and though he had never seen it nor had Meleis ever described it, he knew what he saw in his dream -was- the creature of pure Light.

Aldrae didn’t know if naaru could speak or not either, but in his dream it did. And it spoke to him.


	3. The Keeper

The storm woke him, but Aldrae had been stirred from his rest long before. His thoughts kept him in a bare, lucid sleep, playing in incessant scenes and chattering behind his eyes and mind. He had not slept well in several days. The Sunwell Plateau had descended into frenzied chaos with the fall of Tempest Keep. Kael'thas had been rumored to have been killed, only to return to Magister’s Terrace. Different. Changed. Warped.

All of them had been warped. Aldrae could not recognize the elves around him, nor the majestic Plateau that once was the core of their very existence. Now, it was no longer a cage for him alone, but all the Sin'dorei who had fallen under the Burning Legion’s control and the betrayal of their prince.

The priest had almost come to the point he no longer recognized himself. It was one of the many reasons he refused fel crystals and bloodthistle both. The withdrawal was difficult at first; he still woke in the night, dripping with sweat, or walked the halls with a fine tremble in his limbs. But he had clarity now, a clearness of thought and purpose that was missing all the long months he had been kept on the Sunwell Plateau.

So when he arrived at the decision to seek out his Keeper, whom he had not spoken to in nearly a week, Aldrae did not hesitate. The young priest took a bath in perfumed water before drying and brushing his hair to lustrous, fluffy curls. He adorned his forehead and neck with a matching emerald diadem and necklace. They had been gifts from Meleis.

The lightning flashed on his jewelry as the priest walked the eerily dark halls of the Plateau toward Meleis’ chambers. His pale, smooth skin appeared even more pallid in the sickly greenish-grey light filtering through the windows; his shadow was as inky black as the long, soft robe he wore. It danced ghoulishly in the corridor’s halls, ever so often consumed by the silhouette of something much larger and grotesque prowling outside. Aldrae no longer feared the presence of demons; he had become too accustomed to them.

When Aldrae came to Meleis’ door, he almost knocked. Instead, after a long pause needed to breathe deep and steel himself resolutely, he pulled the handle and pushed quietly into his Keeper’s chambers.

Meleis was was up as he usually was, in a large chair before the low burning fire, drinking one of the last bottles of expensive wine. He did not sleep well or often any more. Things had so quickly spiraled far out of control, far past the point he had ever imagined they would. He had always had faith in their prince. Faith that he was right to use the demons and their power to fortify their people. And he’d believed that it was the demons who were to be the pawns of the Sin'dorei. But recent events had made it all too clear that was not the case. All along the Sin'dorei had been the pawns. Now the demons of the Legion occupied their most sacred and powerful places. They were the masters and Kael’s followers the servants. The rest of the Sin'dorei and all of Azeroth with them had turned against them.

When his door opened, the warlock looked up sharply, almost expecting to see one of the Legion’s demons there come to invade even his private space. Yet when he saw Aldrae his eyes widened a little. This was unexpected, and he did not like the fact that the young priest had become unpredictable to him.

Meleis’ ear tips flicked irritable and his nostrils flared a little. “My lord. Did I not hear you knock?”

Aldrae closed the door behind him, his glowing eyes blinking slowly in the shadows. Meleis’ room was dark, illuminated barely by the dying fire. The rains had brought with them a chill, as well as a sharp, acrid smell that had nothing to do with ozone. The ever present scent of bloodthistle in Meleis’ room subdued it some. “No. I didn’t knock,” he replied in a tone soft with the barest bit of nervousness. “I thought you might be sleeping, and I did not want to wake you.”

A shudder rolled down his spine and he gathered the wide, low collar of his sleek robe a little closer to his neck as he walked deeper into the room. He stopped just in front of the carpet that circled the hearth where the elf sat. “I hope I am not disturbing you, Meleis.”

“What did you intend to do if not disturb me, sneaking into my chambers while I was asleep?” the warlock asked with a smirk and hint of bare amusement in his voice. After a moment he looked away at the fire, gesturing to the chair adjacent to his. “Do you want a glass of wine, my lord? There isn’t much left. We might as well drink it while we can.”

Aldrae felt oddly comforted by Meleis’ familiar smirk and light snideness. The last time they spoke, the two of them had been yelling. Aldrae could be quick of temper and prone to outbursts. Meleis hardly ever lost his composure or rose to anger. It had been disconcerting, even frightening, to see his Keeper so enraged and out of control.

The priest crossed to the table near Meleis’ chair to take up the half empty bottle. “Have you not been sleeping well either?” he asked after he had poured himself a glass, then reached for Meleis’ to refill it.

Meleis smirked with an arched eyebrow, watching Aldrae fill his cup. “Must be the thunder.” He took his glass back and drank deeply. “Was there something specific you sought me out for, Aldrae? Or were you hoping perhaps to strangle me in my sleep? I imagine you’ve had plenty of time to stew in your anger after our little tiff.”

Blinking, Aldrae was more surprised by the hurt he felt from Meleis’ words than the words themselves. “W-what? No, no…I…”

His long ears lowered and the priest swallowed. The gnawing sensation that visited him every night in his dark, quiet chambers returned. “I’m not angry anymore.” His eyes flicked to the other chair, then back to Meleis. Aldrae circled around his feet and perched himself not in the other high-backed seat, but the ottoman near the warlock’s chair. He looked up at his Keeper. “I…I was lonely. I thought you might be as well.”

Meleis looked at Aldrae for a long moment and then sighed, setting his wine aside on the table. He leaned forward and took Aldrae’s hands in his own, drawing one to his lips. He kissed it softly. “I was not being serious. You do not have what it would take to kill me.”

He looked down at Aldrae for a moment and then sat back, still holding his hands. He drew the younger elf off the ottoman and into his lap. “I’m glad to know you have missed me. The nights have been long.”

Aldrae sat across Meleis’ thighs. The long split in his robe parted on one soft, starkly pale leg. His hand tingled where his Keeper kissed it, and he held the warlock’s in his own. They felt cold. “Are…are you okay, Meleis?” Aldrae asked with earnest worry in his voice. “Have you been okay?”

Meleis smirked faintly and reached up to brush his fingertips across Aldrae’s cheek. The thing he both admired and despised most about the young priest was the resilience of his goodness. Everything he had been through, much of it at Meleis’ own hands, had not, in the end, been able to darken his soul. Perhaps if Kael'thas Sunstrider had been more like his younger cousin things would have gone differently for the Sin'dorei.

“Things have not progressed as I believed they would. My doubts trouble my sleep, nothing more. But it is normal to have doubts in times of great change.” He took a deep breath and then sighed it out. “I’m sorry you have been lonely. I have not been an attentive Keeper.”

As much as he wanted to argue with Meleis, to again remind him that they did not have to keep shuffling obediently along this path toward destruction, Aldrae knew it was not the time. That is what began their last, and preceding, fights. “It’s okay,” he replied with a soft, sad smile. “I’m being fed, and clothes are still put out for me in the mornings. I’ve been surviving.”

He tipped his head into the warlock’s touch. Were his hands cold from the chill in the room, or something else? “But I have missed your company. There is no one else for me to talk to. You’re…my only friend here, Meleis.”

Meleis stared at Aldrae for a moment and then sighed with a smirk, shaking his head. “You’re wrong, Aldrae. Neither of us have any friends here. Remember that. Whatever else I provide you it is not friendship.”

The younger elf’s ears lowered, though he was not surprised by Meleis’ words. Aldrae wondered if he considered anyone at all his friend.  The warlock drew his hands away from the priest’s face and circled them around his waist, pulling him further into his lap. “But I have missed your company. What dreams have you been having?”

Aldrae scooted closer up his lap and wrapped his arms around Meleis’ slender shoulders. “I don’t dream very often,” he murmured, though that was a half truth. What few dreams he had were about M'uru, and Aldrae was very certain they were not arbitrary dreams. He did not want to bring up the topic of the naaru again. “I did dream about Stormwind once. When I was studying there. And…I did dream about you last night.”

Meleis chuckled. “Oh? And what sort of dream was that?” His fingers stroked lightly against Aldrae’s spine and his expression was handsome and almost soft as he looked up at the young priest. “Are they what urged you to come and find me tonight?”

Trembling, Aldrae inhaled a soft breath as his back arched under his Keeper’s fingers. “No,” he replied timidly. “Well, yes. I suppose. That…that dream frightened me. And I felt bad I had been so angry with you.” His eyes lifted coyly to the warlock’s. “You are a very good Keeper, Meleis. And I know that no matter what happens, you will protect me. You always have.”

Meleis’ ears flicked a little at Aldrae’s words. As of late their relationship had been tenuous and combative. Once his ward’s words would not have surprised him, but since Aldrae had grown so headstrong and less easy to control with gifts and intoxicants they were perhaps the last words he expected to hear. Still they soothed and stroked his ego; he rewarded Aldrae with a gentle caress of his face, thumb gliding softly over his bottom lip. “I have done my best. I know it has not always been easy for you, but I hope now you understand why sometimes I was required to be harsh with you. Now more than ever you are so important to our people.”

“Yes, I understand,” Aldrae replied with a nod. He did understand, at least how Meleis justified his actions. The priest turned his head and gently kissed his Keeper’s thumb, soft and with sensuality. The actions were far from bold, but in a relationship where Aldrae was always the receptive one, had always been one to wait for Meleis’ lead to guide his every response, the smallest gestures could be considered forward. He lifted his hand to the inside of Meleis’ wrist and stroked softly over the skin there. “Were it not for you…I don’t know what would have happened to me.”

Then, Aldrae did something he had never done before. He cupped the side of Meleis’ face, fingers trembling faintly, and pressed his mouth lightly against the other man’s.

Meleis’ eyes widened at the unexpected kiss, but he did not pull away. He let Aldrae kiss him tentatively for a few moments and then pressed his lips back against the priest’s. He was not usually one for sentimentality or overly affectionate gestures, but he, too, had been feeling alone. Adrift and uncertain in the sea of rising darkness around him. Aldrae was hardly a lifeline in such a sea. But he was something. Something to catch hold of even if it only meant both of them were likely to drown.

His long fingers pushed into Aldrae’s hair and he pulled their faces together firmly, coaxing the other elf’s lips apart with his tongue and pushing it inside to sensually rub and curl against his.

Aldrae’s whimper was one of surprise and pleasure. It was more likely that Meleis would push him away. Yet his mouth was warm, indulgent, and even wanting against his own. The priest gladly opened his mouth for the other elf and stroked his tongue against his. Meleis’ raven-black hair was loose around his shoulders and Aldrae’s fingers tangled in it longingly.

The taste of Meleis’ lips and the shape of them were so wonderfully and terribly familiar. It had been so long since he kissed anyone else but the warlock. “Meleis…” he murmured into his mouth, voice trembling, before his lips pressed even harder against his. Without breaking their kiss, Aldrae’s legs moved to straddle his thighs.

As soon as he did so, things progressed quickly. Meleis’ hands pushed the fabric of his robe up his white thighs before jerking and tugging insistently at the ties. It came open quickly and easily, and his hand found his penis to stroke it into hardness. He knew how Aldrae liked best to be touched and so he kept his fondling gentle and sensual for the time being.

The warlock cupped Aldrae’s chin and he his face as he broke their kiss. His first and second fingers soon replaced his tongue in his mouth. “Get them nice and wet,” he murmured softly.

“Mmm!” Aldrae made a soft sound around Meleis’ fingers. His cock throbbed in his Keeper’s touch from the erotic feel of the digits in his mouth coupled with his words. Meleis knew how to consume him with wanting, to leave him feeling completely out of control and utterly ensnared by the other man and his desires. He knew it was how Meleis liked him best. Compliant and receptive. Yet Aldrae had resolved for this moment not to begin, or progress, this way.

He did suckle the man’s cool fingers, but only briefly, drawing his lips off them with a gasp. “No…” he said firmly, though his face remained coy. Aldrae bit his lower lip and placed his hands on Meleis chest, seeking the openings of his robe to push his warm, small hands inside. He had planned all of this, had repeated in his head over and over how this moment would go. But still he was nervous. In all their trysts, he had never touched Meleis. Not like this. Meleis always did to him, but never commanded the younger elf do anything more than prepare to receive him.

Aldrae’s mouth was full and warm against Meleis’ throat as his fingers caressed reverently over his torso. Again, the warlock was surprised, and for a moment there was a flare or irritation and even anger that went through him. But he could not deny that there was something enticing about Aldrae this way. He had never seen him so forward or forceful. Perhaps he truly had been lonely too long.

Meleis made a faint growling sound and grasped Aldrae’s rump, squeezing it hard and even lifting him a little off his lap. Heat flowed through his body from where the other elf kissed at his throat. The tips of his fingers found their way to the hot fissure of Aldrae’s ass and he teased them up and down it before pressing at the puckered hole. “Well… if you don’t want to help prepare yourself I’m fine with fucking you just like this” he growled and then pushed his barely wet fingers inside the priest’s tight body.

Crying out in pained ecstasy, Aldrae’s slender body bowed and shuddered. He had been without Meleis or even his own touch for several days now, and his muscles were tight. Yet they greedily opened and his loins ached to be filled even more.

“Ngh–n-no, Meleis…” Aldrae hissed. He grasped the man’s wrist and tugged his hand away from his rump. With surprising strength, he took up both of Meleis’ wrists and forced them to the arms of his chair. The warlock was so stunned by Aldrae’s actions that he didn’t even try to resist him. He sat there with his arms on the arms of the chair and stared back at the young royal.

Aldrae’s face was flushed brightly, a hungry, defiant glint in his fixated gaze. “Let me…” he panted shakily in a softer tone, and the grip on Meleis’ hands loosened. His ears wilted, as if submissive, and his eyes lowered. “Please, Meleis…” Hands dropping to the other man’s waist, he opened the belt of his Keeper’s robe. “Let me do this. Let me tend to you.”

Aldrae was half expecting for Meleis to refuse him, to assert his usual unwavering dominance over him. After a long pause, Meleis spoke huskily.  "Very well. Let’s see what you think you have learned. ‘Tend’ to me then.“

His face prettily flushed and eyes wide, the priest nodded and finished pushing open the warlock’s dark robe. Meleis was even paler than he was. The young elf’s hands smoothed over his pallid chest again, taking in the firm, slim contours of his form.

"You’re so beautiful, Meleis,” he murmured, lowering his mouth to the man’s collarbone. He closed his eyes as he inhaled the others scent, mixed with wine and bloodthistle, and sighed warmly against his flesh. “I’ve…never really had the opportunity to notice.”

“You are usually rather preoccupied when we are together,” Meleis murmured with a smirk. He began to stroke his fingers through Aldrae’s pale curls. “Is this what you dreamed of the other night?”

“No,” Aldrae replied, briefly faltering in his kisses. His closed his eyes, trying to will away the dark, terrible scenes of that dream. Fingers curling in Meleis black hair, the priest tugged it gently to urge his chin back. He dragged his mouth over it to the knot in his throat, breath shuddering against the skin. “This is what I thought of when I went to sleep that night. And last night as well.”

Meleis sighed and allowed his eyes to flutter closed. It went against his nature to let the other elf be so in charge, but he was curious now to see where this was going…and he was aroused. There was no denying that. His hands squeezed Aldrae’s small waist as he rolled his hips upwards to press their groins together. The hardness beneath his simple pants was easily felt. “Are these kisses on my skin your idea of 'tending’ to me?”

“You seem to be enjoying my tending,” Aldrae countered, pressing his slim, naked rump against the elf’s crotch. He knew he had to give his Keeper some of what he sought in their trysts: not control, but submitting to his ego. Meleis was like many men of position: he liked to be catered to, made to believe that his hands set the world in motion. And for Meleis, Aldrae’s body was what he controlled. In their bedroom, it was his world.

The priest’s lips closed around his Keeper’s nipple, suckling it firmly before nipping. Meleis hissed, fingers tightening on his waist. “I know your body at least a little, Meleis.” Aldrae lifted his eyes, gaze wanton and coy, and began to slide off his lap to the floor. “Do you trust me?”

“Not in the least. You know me well enough to know that was a stupid question.” Meleis threaded his fingers gently through Aldrae’s hair.  Despite his cold words, the elf’s touch was as soft as his gaze. “But I know how to hurt you, so I trust that you will not do anything stupid.”

Aldrae actually giggled, a youthful, pretty sound. “You do know how to hurt me, it’s true.” Kneeling between Meleis’ slender thighs, Aldrae pulled open the ties of his pants and waited for his Keeper to lift his rump to slide them down his legs and off. “But you know how to pleasure me, and you are always so gracious to me, Meleis. You always indulge me when I am good.”

His eyes lowered to the man’s genitals framed by thin black hair, taking in his shape and size. “Why…have you never demanded I pleasure you, Meleis?” he asked, his warm hands rubbing up and down the warlock’s thighs. “Why have you never asked me to do this? Most men enjoy it. Don’t you?”

Meleis watched Aldrae with hooded eyes; he did indeed enjoy watching the younger elf in such a position. “I am a man who prefers to take pleasure than to be given it,” he murmured softly. “Physical arousal on its own is not particularly interesting. It is context which is interesting. You sought me out with this desire in your mind. That I would not have predicted you to do so is interesting context. I am curious to see how you play out your fantasy, so I will not stop you.”

Ears lowering faintly, Aldrae’s blushed. “Then…take this pleasure.” He drew his hands over Meleis’ and tugged them to his fleecy head. “I want to please you, Meleis…” Pecking up the inside of his thigh to his genitals, Aldrae pushed his curled fingers up the man’s torso, scratching lightly. “I want you to be pleased with me.”

The warlock closed his eyes, groaning softly as Aldrae took him quickly and deeply into his mouth. He settled back in the chair, spreading his legs wider as his long, pale fingers stroked over the priest’s blond head and the emerald diadem adorning it.

This was unexpected, and he couldn’t say he was a man that liked surprises. He was a man who liked to anticipate everything, and keep control of every situation. He’d felt far too little control lately, and perhaps it was this sense of already being out of his comfort zone that allowed him to let Aldrae do as he pleased. Even if Aldrae said this was for him, because he wanted him to be pleased with the young royal, he didn’t exactly trust that he didn’t have any ulterior motives. If he’d learned one thing from all this it was to never underestimate anyone or anything.

He’d made that mistake with the Legion, and possibly even Kael’thas. Though in terms of his prince it had been overestimation.

Aldrae’s pretty, large eyes flicked up to the older man’s face, and he found Meleis staring down at him. He held his gaze as his pink mouth suckled to the end of his penis from the base. With a lewd smack and a throaty sigh, he drew his lips off of him and rubbed them sensually underneath his rigid, glistening erection.

“Is this alright, Meleis?” he sighed against his nethers before his pink tongue laved lewdly over his shaft. His hands worked with his mouth, stroking the man’s heavy sac resting on the plush velvet of the chair. “I’ve always wanted to do this for you.”

The warlock had to concentrate to keep his hips still. He didn’t want to give Aldrae too much satisfaction. Meleis stroked his fingers down his soft cheek and cupped his chin before pulling his head up none too gently. Aldrae whimpered at the tug, handsomely flushed as he met Meleis’ gaze. His eyes were narrow as he looked down at the priest, holding his pretty gaze.

“I think that’s enough. If I’m going to have you then I’ll have you. Lie on the rug in whatever position pleases you most,” he murmured silkily, though there was a sharp edge to his tone.

Aldrae would have liked to finish the man with his mouth, to give him a pleasure that, he assumed, Meleis had not indulged in some time. Yet perhaps that wasn’t the way to please him. Meleis liked to take his pleasure, as he had said before, and always favored fucking Aldrae over anything else. The priest did not want to push his luck, nor lose what little control he had by not pleasing the man.

Aldrae lowered his head to Meleis’ cock again, but only to spread the pre beading there around with his tongue. Then, he climbed smoothly back onto his Keeper’s lap, gripping the back of the chair behind his shoulders with one hand.

“This pleases me most,” he huffed in the small space between their faces. Aldrae reached beneath the drape of his robe for the warlock’s member and squeezed it firmly. The young priest arched his lean back and spread his thighs as he guided the other man into his body, mewling at the feel of his rigid flesh pressing into his tight, hot insides.

Meleis made a soft growling sound, raking his fingers over Aldrae’s slim sides. “You’re very disobedient tonight,” he hissed. “But I suppose I will forgive you.” He placed his hands on Aldrae’s hips and forcefully pulled him down onto his lap as he rolled his hips sharply upwards. The sudden, intense rush of pleasure left him huffing softly and Aldrae jerking and tensing in his firm grip. Melies leaned forward and dragged his lips over the priest’s slender, pretty throat.

“Y-you said you…enjoyed this because it was unexpected,” Aldrae panted thinly, moving his hands to the man’s shoulders to brace himself. His thighs squeezed against Meleis and he undulated on his lap, stirring his cock inside his clenching insides. “I think…you are enjoying my disobedience.”

Meleis grinned and dug his fingernails into Aldrae’s hips before raking them along his lower back. “Mmm… perhaps,” he mused huskily. “I certainly know that I enjoy punishing you for disobedience.” He rocked his hips, bouncing Aldrae on his lap as he thrust mercilessly up into him. “But I think you enjoy it, too…”

“A-ahhh!” the priest cried out, gripping on to his Keeper’s shoulders. Meleis’ burned inside him, like a hot brand marking what belonged to him. Yet what pain there was felt wonderful; whatever agony mingled with their pleasure was just as welcome. Meleis was right. He enjoyed it. As much as he loathed the man for his controlling, cold, and sadistic nature, he loved him for it.

“Y-yes!” he cried through clenched teeth, long darker blond brows furrowed above his shut eyes. Even as his Keeper thrust into him, Aldrae’s hips did not stop moving. They found his tempo and rocked eagerly with his pumping, jerking forward to further impale himself on his cock. “I do, Meleis! Please…” His fel-green eyes opened coyly to gaze at the other elf as he bit his full lower lip. “Punish me if it pleases you…”

Meleis snickered, grinning at Aldrae. Then he found himself doing something he would not have expected as he pulled the younger elf’s face to his own. He held it in place with the fingers tangled in his blond curls and kissed him passionately. His other arm encircled Aldrae’s small waist and held him tightly and firmly in his lap as their bodies undulated and surged together.

The kisses were hardly punishment, and Aldrae loved them. Meleis was a masterful kisser, and the priest was always disappointed that his Keeper often denied him. But now, Meleis indulged them both. He had never kissed him like this, with such earnest desire and hunger.  Aldrae’s body and the way it moved with his was familiar, which made him feel in control. Yet the fire that burned inside him made him feel wild and needy, his passion unusual and unfamiliar. It felt consuming and desperate.

Aldrae could barely keep up, but he did, his lips smacking as lewdly against the warlock’s as his hips did on his lap. His cock bobbed between their bodies, dripping onto Meleis’ belly and leaving a glistening mess there. His muscles were tightly clenched around the man, and the muscles of his ample hips and round ass flexed under his grip.

“Meleis!” he cried into his Keeper’s lips, huffing and mewling between kisses. “I-I love it when…when you have me like this…” He hiccuped on another sound of ecstasy before biting at the man’s mouth. “J-just you…I like it when it’s just you…when I can just be yours…ahhh!”

Meleis’ long ears flicked and he made a soft growling sound, his hand tightening in Aldrae’s hair. “Who else’s do you think you are?” he hissed. “No matter who else I may allow to touch you, you are still mine.”

Fingers clawing at his lower back, leaving red welts on his fair skin, he kissed the young elf deeply again. No longer did the faint traces of bloodthistle and fel linger in Aldrae’s mouth. He tasted sweet and hot.

“Mmm-mm!” Any words the priest may have had were consumed by Meleis’ ravenous kiss, his breath and whimpers swallowed into his mouth. The way the warlock kissed him made his head swoon and the churning heat rise even hotter and quicker. His fingers dug into Meleis’ upper back where he clung to him, scratching pink lines on his pale flesh. Saliva trickled down his jaw and when Aldrae broke his mouth from Meleis’, a line of it clung lewdly to their mouths.

“T-then–just let me be yours,” the priest huffed. He slid his arms around Meleis’ shoulders to embrace him tightly; when he rocked his hips forward, his cock frotted against the firm skin of his belly. “Only yours, Meleis…I…I will only lay with you from now on. Only you can give me what I need. What I want.”

Aldrae’s words, hot as they were, sent a shudder of ice through Meleis’ body. Aldrae’s warm lips met his numbly, and without thinking about it his body began to slow and still. He sat back in the chair, his fel green eyes raising to look up at Aldrae. He took the young priest’s jaw in his hand again and pushed his face back. He wasn’t rough, but it was firm. His other hand came to rest on Aldrae’s hip, clutching it tightly and stilling him.

For a long, silent moment he stared at the other elf, seated deep inside him, their bodies unmoving save for the sharp rise and fall of their chests. “Why would you want such a thing? To belong to a man like me?” he rasped. His gaze was angry, but also searching.

The priest was breathing heavily, his face flushed and stunned as he trembled on his Keeper’s lap. The sudden stop in sensations made his body ache, but something else put a hard, sharp pang in his chest. He felt awkward now, sitting on Meleis’ lap, vulnerable and uncertain. As he so often was with the older man.

“B-because…” he croaked softly, a thinness straining his voice. Blinking quickly to ward away a stinging behind his eyes, Aldrae looked away. “Because…you are all I have, Meleis…you are the only…you are the only person who cares about me for a reason beyond my name.” He snickered somberly. “Even if it is for a selfish reason still.”

His eyes coyly cast back to his Keeper’s. The firelight danced in their reflection, making the bright fel green illumination all the deeper. Like a vibrant, electric emerald. “You are all I have.”

Meleis stared at Aldrae for another long silent moment, and then he snorted faintly. His expression became sad and almost soft. “Then I’m sorry for you.” Despite his words his hand relaxed on Aldrae’s chin and he cupped his face. “But it’s not as if I have anything left either. I guess we are both pitiable then.”

He felt something ugly and painful twisting up inside of him and a fine tremor went through his body. He despised how weak he felt in that moment, but he could not deny the longing he felt. To have something… to have someone. Taking a slow, shaky breath he stared intesely up at the young priest and suddenly began to move his hips in slow, hard, sinuous rolls, fingers tightening against his hip. “We might as well have each other,” he growled huskily.  

Aldrae swallowed thickly, and he could not fight the tears that brimmed in his eyes. Meleis was the only thing Aldrae had, and he was the only thing Meleis had. For his Keeper to admit that…to show it…it meant more to the priest than he could say. Wrapping his lithe arms around the warlock’s shoulders, he arched his back and sighed as he began to rock with Meleis again. “Yes…” he murmured, carding his fingers into his Keeper’s long black hair. “Until the end…you’re mine, and I’m yours.”

The priest pressed his warm mouth firmly against the other man’s, dipping his tongue past his lips in wet, deep kisses. Already his young body moved with more fervor and purpose, hips snapping hard on Meleis’ lap as his pleasure began to mount.

Meleis tried not to think too much about the way he felt or how his heart was pounding in his chest. He didn’t bother to rationalize their deep, sweet kisses, or the way his hands touched Aldrae with an almost worshipful desire. He let the priest take his pleasure as he wanted it, enjoying his tight, hot body as it writhed and suckled at him. They undulated and jerked together, moist and hot under their rumpled, askew robes still clinging to their flushed forms.

“Come for me,” he rasped, biting at Aldrae’s lips. “I need to feel you come for me.”

Aldrae’s body obeyed quickly. His lips tore away from Meleis to howl and cry out in ecstasy, every muscle tight and trembling on his lover. “Meleis!” he screamed, clutching him like a man drowning. Like Meleis was the only thing that could keep him from falling into the darkness.

Aldrae felt like fire in his arms, and he could barely keep from crying out himself. Yet he would maintain at least some dignity. He grit his teeth and groaned between them, pressing his face into Aldrae’s shoulder. He held his own climax back as long as he could, until the very end of the other elf’s. Only then did he let his pleasure crest, thrusting upwards hard to come inside the young priest, sinking his teeth into his shoulder as he did.

The feel of Meleis coming inside him was familiar and wonderful, and Aldrae moaned freely and without inhibition as the warlock filled him. He rocked and writhed on his lap until his own form shuddered and went still, slumping against Meleis. He was moist and flushed under his robe and Meleis hands; welts crisscrossed over his pale skin, and light bruises were already blossoming on his hips where Meleis had gripped him.

“Meleis…” he whispered weakly, pressing his face into his Keeper’s dark hair. One hand lifted to cradle the back of his skull as he hugged the older elf with a tender neediness. “I…I want to do this again. I you to make love to me and fuck me…until the sun comes up. Make me yours…yours alone…and I will come to you every night. I will do anything you say. I swear…”

The warlock panted softly, his eyes hooded and staring blankly over Aldrae’s shoulder. After a moment he turned his head, murmuring huskily. “I am a vile man, Aldrae. You shouldn’t want such things from me.”

Still, despite his words, he ran his hands lightly up the length of Aldrae’s back. “If you want me to fuck you until daylight every night then you might as well just stay here with me. At least until I grow tired of you.” He slid his hand down Aldrae’s rump, lewdly sliding his finger down his crack to tease the flesh stretched around his cock. “Is that what you’d like?”

Shuddering, the priest swallowed thickly as he felt his voice catch in his throat. He closed his eyes, desperately trying to keep back the tears that wanted to fall. Meleis had endured all of his emotions so far, but he did not want to cry in front of the warlock. “Yes,” he murmured, nuzzling the older elf’s neck. “Please. Let me stay with you, Meleis.”

His soft, pouty mouth kissed slowly up the side of his neck to his long ear, lightly lipping and nipping it. Despite having just come, he began to writhe on the man again, stirring his soft cock inside his body. “Keep me. As you’re supposed to.”

Meleis wasn’t one for sweet or affectionate words. Words came so easily to him that he could never trust the truth of them. So he didn’t respond to Aldrae with words. Instead he wrapped his arms around his slender body and slid them both down to the floor, rolling him onto his back on the rug before the low burning fire. There he fucked him again. On his back, on his belly, curled against him on his side. He made Aldrae come time and time again, spending himself inside the young priest as well, though less often.

When they both finally seemed to be tiring and the faint light of pre-dawn threatened outside the windows he carried Aldrae to the bed where he fucked him one last time before finally laying back in the tangled sheets, exhausted and fully spent. Dawn was now fully upon them and they had little care for anything but sleep.


	4. Indulgences

Aldrae slept long and deep until the morning hours were nearly afternoon. He woke with the sun warm on his naked back, still streaked with the red welts. Eyes blinking open slowly between the drape of his wheat-blonde curls, he made a sleepy mewl as he stirred and inhaled a deep breath through his nose. The sight of the other naked form, draped in long black hair, disoriented him for a moment; with some surprise, he realized it was Meleis. He had not forgotten the events of the night before. They were too fresh in his mind and on his body. Yet he had never woken up beside the elf before. Meleis barely ever lingered in whatever bed they shared, or if he did it was not for very long. Certainly not until the morning hours.

It had been, he realized, a long time since he slept next to anyone. Meleis' weight and the warmth of his body next to him was surreal and comforting. Aldrae was afraid he was dreaming. Yet the priest pressed against his Keeper and he could feel his breath and heartbeat in his solid form. Aldrae spooned close to Meleis’ back, nuzzling his spine and pressing soft little kisses there.

Always a light sleeper, Melies stirred as soon as Aldrae woke. He was no more used to sleeping next to another than the priest. Aldrae's kisses down his back made him stiffen a little. He didn’t pull away though and lay still, staring out into the room brightened by light coming in from the windows. His head hurt, and his body ached faintly from the prolonged activities of the previous night. He could probably keep sleeping. It wasn’t as if he had anything important to attend to. With the coming of the Legion he had become all but obsolete.

Aldrae's lips eventually stopped moving against Meleis’ back, and he let his forehead rest there. He wasn’t going to delude himself into thinking Meleis had completely changed. Something had changed between them, though Aldrae could not articulate what. The fact that he was there, still in his Keeper’s bed, after a long, passionate night together was telling.

He dozed lightly before a distant, rumbling roar startled him. The sounds of the Legion’s demons, prowling protectively outside of and around the Plateau, were familiar by now but all the same unsettling. The first time Aldrae saw one of the humongous creatures from his balcony, far larger than the usual succubus or felguard, he had been disgusted. The first time he encountered one face to face, he was terrified.

The priest realized he was trembling, the pace of his heart quickened to a flutter in his chest. Rolling away from Meleis, he held his breath and closed his eyes, squeezing his hands against his chest as he prayed silently.

Meleis could feel Aldrae shaking, and he looked back over his shoulder to see him curled tightly into himself. Pursing his lips, the warlock rolled over and pushed up on an elbow. He wasn’t any good at being comforting, and Aldrae’s fear irritated him more than anything. The Legion wanted them to be afraid. Wanted them cowed and subservient. If he couldn’t offer comfort he could at least offer distraction. Meleis lightly squeezed his hip. "Let’s go take a hot bath.”

Meleis’ touch and words drew Aldrae from his fear and he turned to look up at the older elf over his shoulder. He lowered his eyes and nodded coyly before rising sorely from the bed.

The bathroom, like Meleis’ bedroom, reflected his position among the Sunblade and was just as large and elegant. One of the few consolations he still kept as a top ranking member of those that were loyal to Kael’thas, Aldrae mused, but in that moment the large tub and opulent amenities were welcome. He turned on the water, watching it spill from the gilded mouth of the tap.

“Could we call for breakfast?” the priest asked. Many of the servants had been claimed by the Legion for “other” duties, things deemed more important than preparing meals or fetching clothes. What those things were, Aldrae didn’t know, but he did notice the number of attendants and guards alike dwindling.

“We can certainly try,” Meleis said. While Aldrae drew the bath, he pulled the cord that rang the servants’ bell. It took a second ring some minutes later before one finally showed up. The harried looking elf was out of breath. “Y-yes sir?” he panted from the doorway, bowing to the naked elf.

"It's about time” Meleis drawled, mildly irritated. “Have breakfast sent for myself and Lord Sunbound.”

The servant’s eyes widened, and he slumped in obvious relief. “L-Lord Sunbound? You mean he’s with you?”

Meleis shifted his weight and gave the servant a dangerously bored look as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Am I to understand that you thought him missing, yet did not come to inform me?”

The elf balked and stuttered. “A-ah, well, sir, we did not want to disturb you. We all know how troubled your sleep has been, and we were certain he hadn’t gone far--”

“No. Only as far as my bed. Try using your brain before catastrophizing in the future. And be quick with breakfast. Lord Sunbound is hungry.” He snapped his fingers, turning from the man. “And count yourself lucky I’m not in a bad mood or else you would find your incompetence punished.”

“Y-yes, sir!” the servant stammered and then raced away.  

Meleis went back into the bathroom, shaking his head with a snort. “Breakfast is on the way. The servants thought you’d gone missing in the night, yet didn’t think it necessary to inform me. I’m surrounded by incompetence.”

Brushing his hair out at the vanity mirror, Aldrae smirked faintly at his Keeper. “Maybe they thought I had been snatched away by a demon. Or just ran away. Either is just as plausible.”

Meleis grunted and walked over to the bath, testing the water with his hand. “Either scenario would most likely lead to your death, so please consider carefully before making any rash decisions, or going anywhere with strangers.”

The other elf snickered. “I don’t plan on running away -or- going anywhere with strangers, especially strange demons.” He put the brush down and stood, crossing toward the tub to sit on the rim. It seemed silly not to be honest with Meleis now, considering. “I had...thought about running, but I have no idea where I would go. I am not welcome in the only other place I have called home. I doubt Stormwind would give a member of the Sunstrider family asylum.”

“No. I think it is safe to say that our people are very much unwelcome everywhere in the human kingdoms. Especially now that Theron’s regime has decided to join with the Horde barbarians.” Meleis looked at Aldrae levelly. “Besides there’s no way off this island that neither I nor the Sunblade control. Attempting to run away would be unwise.”

“I know. That’s why I am still here,” Aldrae answered truthfully. He lifted his legs to dangle them over the side of the tub, sighing as the hot water rose around his calves. “I didn’t want to get you in trouble either. I would not forgive myself if something happened to you because of me.”

Meleis laughed, shaking his head. “Oh, Aldrae. You need to learn to be a bit more selfish. Always worrying about how your actions will reflect on others will mean you never get where you want to be.” He smirked and leaned over to stroke one long finger under Aldrae’s chin. “It makes you easy to control.”

The priest blinked up at Meleis, then puffed his round cheeks with a snort. “Are you saying that I should have just left, even though there is no way to escape? You’re my Keeper. You would have been held accountable for losing me. My cousin or what remains of his Convocation would have punished you. I…”

He sighed heavily, lowering his gaze. “I don’t even know where I would have gone. Theron and the Sin’dorei in Silvermoon might have killed me on sight. Eversong is filled with Scourge. Even if I made it off the island, how far would I get?.” His green gaze lifted to Meleis. “When I felt lonely and afraid in my room, the first place I thought of running to was here. And I am not saying that to be romantic. I told you, Meleis. You are...the only one I have left.”

Meleis sighed and stroked his hand over Aldrae’s hair with a faint frown. “I know. So you said.” He slipped into the tub, sinking down into the water with a pleasured groan. “At this point, however, I don’t really think there’s anyone left to punish me who cares what happens to you.”

The warlock smirked a little. “I don’t say that to be cruel, though it probably sounds so. It’s just my honest appraisal of the situation. I’ve kept you, yes, but for what? Kael’thas has all but been defeated, succumbed to the very sickness he supposedly sought to rid us of. Whatever mad thoughts consume him, I promise at this point you are not among them. The Convocation is destroyed. Theron and his men probably think--or hope--you are already dead. The Legion has no idea of who you are or why you are important, and if they do they don’t care. They already have all the control over the Sunsworn they need. You--and I as your Keeper-- are completely expendable. It’s only a matter of time before someone realizes it and we are either disposed of or repurposed.”

Aldrae was surprised how he felt no fear from Meleis’ words. Maybe because he had realized the truth a long time ago. He joined Meleis in the bath. The blissfully hot water rose up his body, flowing around his genitals and soothing the ache still present in his backside. He brought his wet hands to his hair, spilling water over it before rubbing his face.

“You’re a warlock, at least,” the priest said. “You wield fel magic. The Legion will at least see you as an useful ally, even if an expendable one. They’ll keep you around long enough to fight their enemies. But me…”

He looked down at his reflection in the water. “If my family name means nothing now, even to those that still stand with Kael’thas, what am I good for? Theron holds Silvermoon. I don’t think it will ever be ruled by a Sunstrider again. Not that I ever wanted to be king…”

Aldrae slumped against the rim of the tub, sinking deeper into it. “Perhaps they’ll turn me into a fel elf...or just leave me to become a Wretched. Maybe I could learn to be a warlock too.”

Meleis studied Aldrae for a long moment. He didn’t like the thought of him becoming a warlock or a felblood, of being tortured and twisted past the point of recognition. Perhaps once the thought had been amusing, but even when he had kept Aldrae addicted to fel energies and bloodthistle it had never been about wanting to harm or destroy the priest. It had been about control. He was always careful with Aldrae’s body and even his mind. Breaking him was never his goal.

He took a slow breath. “I’d hate to see that happen to you. Even if the city will never be ruled by a Sunstrider again, I’m sure Theron’s men wouldn’t mind having a little figurehead under their thumb.” He took a deep breath. “The Sunblade fear an invasion. Perhaps now is the time to go if you really wanted to.”  

Head lifting and ears perking, Aldrae stared at Meleis, eyes wide and stunned. At first, and he was ashamed to admit it, he thought the warlock’s words a trick of some sort. But Meleis had never lied to him, and he had nothing to gain by convincing him to try sneaking away when he knew it was near impossible. Why would he encourage the idea?

“You could come with me,” Aldrae murmured before he could stop himself, his tone a little desperate. They argued over this before, and it had been the reason why they had not spoken in nearly a week, but the priest could not help himself. “We would not be the first to defect. You said it yourself...we’re just waiting to be disposed of or further used. We...we could just both leave. Together. We don’t--”

Aldrae swallowed, and this time the fear came, quick and heavy in his chest. “We don’t have to die here, Meleis.”

Meleis did not reply. The truth of the matter was he did not see a place for himself in the new Sin’dorei world order. He was a man who craved power, who thrived off of it. As a former follower of Kael’thas they might not kill him or even imprison him--after all their population’s numbers were frighteningly low--but he would not be afforded a place of position.

The thought of becoming some common nobody scrimping just to keep a menial job or serve as a scribe to one of the members of the new upper echelon, living in a boarding house or tenement, was worse than the thought of death. Even if the Legion used him and twisted his body and mind with fel energy, even if he didn’t believe in their fallen prince any longer, he would at least go out in blaze of fantastic power.

Being nothing more than Aldrae’s pathetic, desperate last thing to cling to at the end of the world was despicable. It made his stomach turn, yet he was powerless to be anything else.

Of course in time that might change. He might work his way back into power. But Light, he was tired. The thought of everything ending quickly was so much more appealing.

He eyed Aldrae across the tub, his expression giving away none of his thoughts. After a moment he just beckoned him with his fingers. “Come here.”  

Ears wilting, Aldrae hesitated before coyly moving toward his Keeper. He was not afraid Meleis would hurt him, but the man’s often unreadable countenance could be as unsettling. The last time they breached this subject, Meleis had become furious. At least then his emotions were clear. When Meleis was like this, he didn’t know what he was thinking or feeling.

“I’m sorry,” he said preemptively, kneeling between the warlocks legs. “I don’t want to fight again. Not when…” Aldrae’s eyes lowered. “I know how you feel. I know why you can’t leave. So...forget I said anything. I’m sorry.”

It dawned on Meleis then that the next few days--perhaps the next few weeks, if things were to stretch long, were probably going to be the last he would spend with Aldrae. The thought was surprisingly poignant, and brought an ache to his chest. Things would probably unravel quickly now. They already had begun to do so. He might as well do his actual duty, which was to protect Aldrae, and then find whatever means suited him best to play his hand through to the end.

He reached up to stroke Aldrae’s cheek, wet fingers leaving trails of water on his pale skin. “It’s alright. Before I was still clinging to the delusion of a favorable outcome. I’ve accepted the inevitability of how things are going to play out, so... you don’t need to worry. I’m not angry.”

The touch was unexpected, but Meleis’ words were not. Still, they made the priest’s heart ache and an immediate, prickling heat rise to his eyes. Meleis did not deserve death. Even for those that had willingly betrayed their people, Aldrae did not believe they were meant to die. Not at the hands of the Legion, or even the Sin’dorei or the Horde. The Lich King had taken everything from them after slaughtering the majority of their population. They were desperate, lost, and aching in all senses of the word. The orcs had resorted to similar solutions, though under hardly as justifiable reasoning. The Sin'dorei were culpable for their actions, but there seemed to be little sympathy or pity for them.

Melies seemed so resigned to his fate. Was it pride that would keep him there, fighting until the end? Aldrae did not want to die. He feared it. And he knew that if it came down to it, he would abandon Meleis to save himself if his Keeper refused to see any other end. This truth made his chest hurt even more.

Ears drooping even further, Aldrae bowed his head somberly. “Then...we should at least make these last days enjoyable, shouldn’t we? Together.”

“Yes, might as well,” Meleis agreed. “I wouldn’t mind you having a few good memories of me.” He smirked faintly and tugged Aldrae’s face upward by the chin gently, drawing him closer. There was no harm in being sweet to his charge now. His arms slipped around Aldrae’s slender body, pulling him close. “Does that make me sentimental after all?”

He kissed the priest with uncharacteristic tenderness. Aldrae was so stunned he was stiff in the warlock’s embrace for a moment. Was Meleis being earnest? The press of his mouth certainly felt so, as did his tender hug and the gentleness of his hands. The younger elf's body melted and he made a soft coo in his throat. His lean arms encircled Meleis’ shoulders, hugging him snugly as he lay against him in the water.

Aldrae indulged himself in every kiss Meleis would give until their lips parted. “Meleis…” he murmured dreamily, then smiled. “I suppose it does make you a little sentimental. I hope that’s okay. I want you to have good memories too. And…”

He blushed darkly, giggling. “It’s not that I have…hated everything we have done together. So I do have nice memories of you already…”

“Oh, I know you didn’t hate it.” Meleis snickered. “But still... I’m sure you would have preferred something sweeter interspersed with our shared perversions.” He leaned against the side of the tub, tipping his head back to rest against the lip. His long, black hair snaked out across the water, floating there in wispy tendrils, and he stared up at the gilded dome ceiling. “What do you miss most about life before all of this?”

Feeling a lightness he had been without in several months, Aldrae smiled as he lay his head on Meleis’ shoulder. “Mmm...I don’t know…” he mused, playing his fingers along the warlock’s collarbone. “Being away from the Plateau, I suppose. Being able to go elsewhere, even if I was doing much of what I do now. Just being lazy and pampered.”

The younger elf smiled wistfully. “I miss going to Stormwind. Or riding out to Eversong Woods. Going to see the ocean. My brother said I had a wanderer’s spirit.” He fell quiet for a moment, lost in the now familiar grief of loss, then lifted his eyes. “What about you?”

Meleis pondered silently on his answer. “I miss going to the market, to be honest. Even though we had servants to do that sort of thing. I liked going and seeing all the things people were selling. Their desperation to peddle their wares was both amusing and admirable. And I liked picking out the things I enjoy eating. Flaky pastries, citrus fruits, apple cider.” He smirked a little. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m pretty sure all they have left in the larders are dried apples, flour meal, and eggs. What do you want to bet breakfast will be apple buns and eggs...again.”

"Oh, I am sure it will be,” Aldrae giggled, drawing one long strand of Meleis’ hair over his shoulder to finger it idly. “If I never taste another apple again, I’d be rather happy.” He tried to imagine Meleis milling about with common elves in a bustling place like a market. He would have never thought he enjoyed something so...mundane. It was charming. “I liked the markets in Stormwind, but the merchants were so intimidating. I once bought a hideous cloak with a lion on it because the seller was so pushy.”

He chuckled at the memory, then sighed. “I do miss the church in Stormwind too. I miss studying there. It made me feel…” He came up with a word, though it didn’t seem appropriate; yet after a long moment of consideration, it was the only one he had. “...capable.”

Meleis’ lips twisted into a faint, lopsided smile. “We all want to believe we can take care of business, or ourselves and others if need be.” He stroked his fingers against Aldrae’s hip beneath the water. “I think you are more capable than you think. You broke your addictions despite my best efforts to the contrary. Fear of losing control over you and being found a failure in my duties was one of the reasons I kept you addicted in the first place. No one wants to be found incompetent.”

Aldrae lifted his eyes to Meleis’ face, though he could only see him in profile. “But you had other duties besides just taking care of me. And you were...are very good at controlling me.” His own lips pursed. “And you were a mage before. A very good one, if I remember. Everyone wanted to push their sons and daughters at you. Your family name came up often over dinner. I was...I have always just been a Sunbound. Nothing more. I had no other talents until I visited the cathedral in Stormwind and learned of the Light and healing. I never really concerned myself with feeling capable until then. But then the war came so quickly. I still don’t feel like I have had the opportunity to prove I can take care of myself or anyone else.”

Meleis turned his head to look at Aldrae. “You’re still alive, aren’t you? Here you are curled up with me in this tub like a cat that’s got the cream. Certainly if nothing else you’ve a talent for manipulation.” His eyes hooded and he smirked a little. “A very useful skill among our people.”

The priest snickered, but found himself grinning a little. “I did not know this would work so effectively,” he mumbled, nuzzling Meleis throat. “And I don’t just want to be manipulative. I feel like that would...go against my teachings somehow.”

He stared at Meleis chest, watching his slim pectorals rise and fall slowly. The tips of his slender fingers glowed with a soft, warm light that illuminated the warlock’s skin as he traced idle shapes on his breast. “What else do you miss?”

Meleis tipped his head back again, closing his eyes as the warm feeling of Aldrae’s Light-infused touch left a little trail of trembling heat in his skin. “Debates at the Arcaneum. The library. Summers in Eversong Woods.” He smirked. “Eyes that come in colors other than green. Mine were dark red. They were considered very fetching with my hair.”

“I remember. They were,” Aldrae replied with a little blush and a smile. The path of his fingers became a little longer, moving from Meleis’ collarbone to his navel and back up again. “Mine were green, but a much more natural shade. Hazel-green, I suppose. I miss that too.”

The older elf took a deep breath. “I wonder if our people will be changed forever, or if one day we might regain what we have lost. I find it unlikely that we’ll hold the Sunwell Plateau against invaders, even with the demons now occupying it. Assaults against the Magister’s Terrace have already begun. It’s only a matter of time before Prince Kael’thas is put down for good.” He scowled as he looked back up at the ceiling. “We made a lot of mistakes.”

Aldrae watched Melies. The elf looked older than his age now, worn and tired. The sudden and macabre thought of what Meleis said before, of Aldrae strangling him in his sleep, came back to him; would Meleis be relieved if he wrapped his fingers around his throat and pushed him under the water? Would he be happy to have everything done with then and there?

The thought filled Aldrae with such trepidation that he shuddered as his belly lurched. His hand lifted, but only to card gently through the elf’s dark hair at his temple. “I don’t think there is a man or a race in this world that has not made a mistake,” he murmured, pouring soothing Light into Meleis’ mind. “The humans made mistakes. The orcs did too. And they have come back. Things will never be the same again, I’d have to guess, but...that doesn’t mean they won’t be okay again.” He smiled faintly. “We have time. We live for a long while, after all.”

“Yes... long. Too long,” Meleis murmured. Aldrae’s fingers soothed his mind into grogginess. He would never have let the priest touch him like this before, but it didn’t seem there was any harm in it now. His hand lightly brushed Aldrae’s hip and he took a shallow breath. “You can go check on breakfast if you’d like. You don’t have to stay in here with me if you are hungry.”

“I’m fine,” the priest murmured with a gentle smile, his fingers still sweeping against the warlock’s skull as he stroked his hair. It may not have been the“comfort” Meleis had given him in the form of intoxicated and hedonistic indulgence, but he seem soothed. If Meleis was resigned to die, the least the priest could do was give some semblance of relief. Though perhaps the man had found his own comfort in their shared lusts.

The clinking of dishes in the other room made the elf’s ears flick and he turned around to see breakfast finally being delivered. Reclining languidly against Melies, the young elf lifted his chin and adopted a bored expression complete with a haughty drawl. “You there!"

Startled, the servant blinked up toward the doorway through which he could see Aldrae and his Keeper. “Yes, Lord Sunbound?” he replied with a low nod.

“Master Tenebrous and I will take our breakfast in here,” he said haughtily, rubbing Meleis' chest. “And there better be something on that tray besides apple buns and eggs.”

“U-uh…” The servant swallowed, looking down. “There is also toast with a bit of bloodberry jam, my lord. Is that agree--”

Aldrae huffed, long and loud before clucking his tongue. “I suppose. Bring it to us then. And find my diadem. It’s somewhere in there on the floor or the bed or wherever.”

“O-of course, my lord, at once!” Aldrae had to keep from giggling as the servant went about scrambling through their discarded robes and the rumpled bedding.

Meleis snickered, hooding his eyes at the priest. “Be careful, Aldrae. Abusing the servants leads to a slippery slope. Though I can’t say your haughtiness wasn’t rather alluring. Bossy little thing.”  

“I only did that for your pleasure. Though it was a little...enjoyable.” Yet the priest looked coy, even apologetic, when the servant entered the bathroom to present him with the delicate gold and emerald headpiece that had been lost the night before. Aldrae thanked him before he scurried out of the room to finish preparing their breakfast.

“Would you…?” he asked Meleis, handing him the diadem before lowering his head.

Meleis took the crown with a bare, though fond smile. It and the matching necklace around Aldrae's neck had been a gift from him. He brushed back and gently arranged Aldrae’s damp hair from his face before setting the diadem on his head. He slide the securing combs into his curls and angled it securely against his brow.

“A crown for the crown prince,” he murmured softly, then leaned back against the tub with a faint smile on his red lips. “The emeralds soften the color of your eyes.”

Aldrae’s cheeks flushed attractively. “I was afraid of wearing it. I thought it looked too...haughty. Like I just wanted to emphasize who I was, when I really didn’t care.” He settled onto Meleis lap again, straddling his thighs. The young priest reached for the tray of soaps and soft bathing sponges behind him to collect one of each. “But I liked wearing it when I was alone. It is very beautiful.”

“I’m glad it makes you happy,” the older elf said. He lightly stroked his fingertips over the necklace on Aldrae’s chest.

The priest’s chest swelled under Meleis’ touch, the skin beneath his fingers stiffening. Aldrae smiled, but there was a sultry quality to his hooded eyes. One he was completely unaware of. His ears flicked as the servant wheeled in the breakfast cart, but did not take his gaze from Meleis. “What would make you happy right now, Meleis?”

“I’m quite happy just like this. Enjoying a leisurely bath and breakfast with you.” He leaned forward a little, smoothing his long fingers over Aldrae’s chest and playing with his nipples. “Is this making you happy?”

Meleis’ demeanor and touch were so different from what Aldrae had become accustomed to and associated with the warlock, but he was basking in it. “Yes…” Aldrae breathed, arching his back to push into the touch. “It is making me very happy, Meleis.”

Meleis smiled and tugged him a little closer, looking up over Aldrae’s shoulder at the servant who was trying not to gawk at them. He smirked as the elf met his eyes, flushed darkly, and scampered away, leaving the breakfast tray. The warlock chuckled faintly. “We are alone once more.”

“As if it bothered you we were not.” Soap suds slid alluringly down the priest’s slim, pale chest and shoulders as he bathed his upper half while perched on his Keeper. “Have you always been a voyeur?”

“I suppose I have been. There is something very enjoyable about being able to focus on what is in front of you without being distracted by other... stimuli.”

“And you like being in control. You like directing.” Aldrae giggled, happy to feel he could be a bit more liberal with his tongue now. His eyes hooded and he dropped his hands to his chest, stroking the sponge over his torso. “When I was studying in Stormwind, the high priests stressed abstinence only so that we could fully devote our minds to the Light, and so that our spirits could be open and aware to its presence without distraction. But having expectations of young acolytes being so above the desires of their...newly budding bodies is a bit much.”

Aldrae lowered his eyes demurely. “When we were just trainees tasked with doing the mundane like tending to the church and sweeping and dusting, they encouraged us to indulge ourselves. To...purge our bodies before they required abstinence during our more advanced studies.”

Meleis smirked, his eyes hooded. “And did they--these older priests--enjoy directing as well? It is technically abstinence if you’re just watching, yes?” He snickered, a little bit of his normal coldness creeping into his expression. “Is that why you took so easily to my demands when I started bringing others into your bed for my enjoyment?”

Aldrae's face was hot with embarrassment and arousal. “I think so. And no, the priests left it to us to dictate how we purged ourselves. Most of us went into the city or the villages for our dalliances, away from what eyes may have pried.” The younger elf grinned. “But it was not so easy for the acolytes, or even the newly inducted priests and paladins, to let go of their desires so easily. They were abstinent. Well, most of them. They were the ones that bent the rules a little and enjoyed vicariously indulging themselves through hosting little gatherings for the new trainees.”

Aldrae giggled. “I have never been to a boudoir soiree in Silvermoon, but I think they would be rivaled by some of gatherings in the acolytes’ dorms.”

Meleis laughed. “Oh? Well we could compare notes. I’ve been to a number of soirees. That’s where I learned that I liked to watch--and to direct. I learned much at those gatherings. I imagined you did as well.” He could feel that Aldrae was growing aroused again in his lap. He put his hands on the younger elf’s narrow hips, tugging him further into his lap as he rolled his hips upwards a little.

Sighing a slow, quivering breath, Aldrae’s hips arched into Meleis’ touch. His swelling penis pressed against the elf’s belly under the water. “I did. I had experienced the bodies of others before then, but not very frequently. And it was different there. They were so intent on going as far as they could before they devoted themselves to the long training. Some found it easier to indulge a few times and move forward. Others had already known all the pleasures they were interested in and didn’t need the transition. I…”

Aldrae cooed softly as a throb of desire further stiffened his loins. “Well...I admit I took my indulgences far and for as long as I could. I was almost sent back home for failure to advance into the training. My brother said I would shame the family if I remained in Stormwind sweeping floors only so that I could live in hedonism every day. I could just go back home, if that’s all I wanted.” He laughed. “I think he was just jealous he could no longer indulge himself.”

“Mmm...being devoted to the Light sounds very boring. Anything that requires that much of your undivided attention that you can’t even fuck now and then sounds entirely like too much to expect of anyone.” He chuckled darkly and squeezed Aldrae’s ass. “And here in Silvermoon I have a feeling the expectations are quite a bit more lax. Our people are not very good at self-restraint. Which might explain some of our current troubles.”

Gasping as his nethers were pressed further against Meleis’ belly, the blood elf’s cock swelling under his round rump, Aldrae’s hands smoothed sensually over his own body. “It was only for a short while,” the priest huffed, rocking on Meleis’ lap as he washed beneath the drape of his blond hair. “And why do you think my family sent me to Stormwind to study the Light? Not that we do not have appropriate churches here, but...I was already being a laze-about and needed more discipline. And devotion isn’t boring. You just have to find a balance. Which has been...hard as of late.”

“Do you want me to allow you return to your strict devotions?” Meleis asked with a little tease in his voice, fondling the elf’s rump.. “That would sadly be a rather boring way for both of us to spend these last days together.” He smirked and slid one finger between Aldrae’s buttocks, teasing at his hole. “The discipline however... I can arrange.”

“Nnn...n-no! Don’t tease me about the Light like that,” Aldrae whimpered, hands falling away from his sponge to curl against Meleis’ chest. The cheeky expression had left his face, replaced by something more earnestly coy. “I don’t. I told you. I want to enjoy our time together.”

“Oh we will,” Meleis murmured huskily, pushing the tip of his finger inside Aldrae’s tight hole and crooking it against the sensitive flesh. “But can you really say you wouldn’t enjoy some discipline?”

Mewling softly, Aldrae’s spine bowed receptively, and he reared back toward Meleis’ finger. His blonde head pressed against shoulder, warm breath rolling against his Keeper’s neck. “I think...you have come to know what I enjoy, Meleis,” he huffed, fingers scratching lightly down the warlock’s torso.

“I think that’s probably an accurate statement. Meleis pulled his finger free from Aldrae’s ass and puts his hands on the priest’s round hips to push him back firmly. “But breakfast is ready. We should eat before it grows cold, don’t you think?”

Aldrae whimpered again, panting softly and flushed from Meleis words and touch. Swallowing, he nodded. “Y-yes. Let’s...let’s eat,” he replied, though his fingers did not leave his Keeper’s chest. “And then after, I want you...to discipline me. For being so disobedient last night.”

Meleis grinned wolfishly, his eyes narrowing. “I’m disciplining your right now.” Neatly removing Aldrae from his lap, the warlock moved toward the breakfast tray set up on a little table beside the tub.

Biting his lower lip, Aldrae watched Meleis' beautiful, jet black hair waving on top of the water and how it gracefully fell down his lean back. The priest took in a deep, calming breath, then collected his sponge to continue bathing.

Meleis didn’t have much appetite, but he ate half a fritter before taking the sponge from Aldrae and ordering him to eat. While their provisions may have been running low and limiting their meals, the apple buns were delicious and the bloodberry jam was sweet on the bread. Aldrae ate until he was satiated, though not overly full. “Do you have duties to tend to today?”

“Not really,” Meleis replied, scrubbing his pale skin clean. “I have my general duties of looking after you and conducting research. But you’re right here, and I’m not sure that anyone really cares about ancient texts concerning the arcane now, so... More or less I’m at my leisure.”

“Then...let’s do something...inappropriate,” he said, approaching Meleis to press against Keeper’s back. “Something we have been barred from doing because of duty. These may be our last days, so...we should indulge ourselves. Beyond just the bedroom. Is there anything you would like to do that you haven’t been able to?”

“So mischievous. Now I wonder what inappropriate things you’ve been getting up to behind my back.” Meleis smirked and then sighed. “I might like to see the Sunwell again, but... I doubt we would be granted access at this time. They might kill us just for trying.”

Heart racing and eyes widening at the thought of seeing the Sunwell and the naaru he had only been granted an audience with once, Aldrae’s body trembled briefly with a giddy sort of longing. It was not so different from a magic craving. His eyes quickly flicked away and he smirked wryly. “You’re probably right. I don’t even know if the Sunblade guard it anymore, or if it’s just demons.” His eyes lifted to his Keeper again. “What else?”

“I can’t think of anything else. Perhaps if there was a drop of good wine or cheese left in this place, that would be nice.” He stroked Aldrae’s long ear with sudsy fingers. “But what about you? I’ve more or less had the run of the place. You’re the one who’s been kept in a gilded cage.”

Aldrae looked hopefully up at the tall elf and placed his soft hands on his hairless, wet chest. “I would like to go riding. Even if just a short distance. Maybe see the docks. Perhaps I could say that I want to go see my cousin, and ride along the Terrace. Do you...think that is possible?”

“I don’t know that there are any horses or hawkstriders left to ride, but we can certainly find out. I doubt anyone will think to question us, though I don’t know how safe the Isle is any longer. There have been reports of Naga encroaching on the shores. The Wretched have claimed much of the dockside. And there is--of course--the imminent invasion.”

Aldrae ears wilted in fear. The invasion might be a certainty, but he did not want to think his death was. At the hands of the Horde, Alliance, Wretched, or otherwise.. “Then I suppose, it doesn’t matter. Either way...we’re just sitting around. Waiting. Might as well then…” He smiled faintly. “Are you ready to get out of the bath?”

“I am. Shall we?” The water cascaded from Meleis’ body as he stood and climbed out of the tub. He snatched the remains of an apple bun from the tray, nibbling on it as he took up a towel to wrap himself in. He wandered back into the bedroom. “So... do you want your discipline now or after our excursion?”

Following behind the warlock, draped in his own towel, Aldrae watched Meleis’ lean body gleaming in the sunlight. His black hair appeared even darker when wet, contrasting with his pallid skin, hanging just above his firm buttocks. “Whenever you want to give it to me, Meleis,” he murmured lowly, though he was already slipping his towel down his body.

Meleis chuckled and turned, his eyes moving over Aldrae’s naked form. “Oh. I think you know the answer to that. Though to be honest if we get started now we may never leave this room before nightfall. Will that suit you?”

“As long as we could go riding tomorrow. Or the next day.” Aldrae’s skin was still damp, water trickling down his slim chest from the curled ends of his wet hair. His fingers coyly curled in the long chain of tiny emeralds around his neck. “Please, Meleis. My...my body can only withstand being without one addiction.”

“Mmm...you know just the right words to say, don’t you,” Meleis mused, grinning with a dark, wolfish gaze. “You’ve had a lot of time to learn them.” He stepped closer to Aldrae, letting his own towel fall down from his narrow hips, and reached out to touch the young priest’s genitals with just the tips of his fingers. “Pity all the toys are in your room...”

“Nn--no…” Aldrae murmured, voice strained with pleasure. His cock, already swelling, throbbed between his legs. “No more fel crystals. Not like that. That’s my only rule. That and...I just want you. You can do anything else you want to me.”

Meleis canted his head to the side, looking down at Aldrae with a guarded gaze. He cupped his hand more fully around his balls and gently rolled them up against his pelvis. “Alright. Then let’s play a little game. A game in which you don’t get to touch me until I tell you you can. Not with your hands or your lips.”

His face flushing redder and redder, Aldrae swallowed as soft little puffs of breath came from his nose. “Y-yes, Meleis.”

“Good. Now. Go lie on the bed.”

The elf visibly shuddered; his heart was fluttering like a fire finch in his chest as he crawled up on Meleis’ large, freshly made bed. He turned around, leaning up on his forearms, and stared down toward his Keeper with heady, wanting eyes.

Meleis indulged in the sight of his younger ward laying waiting on his bed. Aldrae was a pretty thing, all soft, pale, and pink, bejeweled in the ornaments he’d given him. The warlock tapped his finger against his chin. “I ought to just leave you here for a while. Watch you, roiling in your desire, to see how long you could last before you beg me to touch you.”

Aldrae made a soft, displeased sound in the back of his throat. “You only said I can’t touch you,” he replied cheekily, grazing his slender fingers lightly against his chest. He took one of the emeralds of his necklace and rubbed the cold, hard gem against one pink nipple.

“And you think I can’t change the rules? If you don’t behave I will have to bind your hands so that you are forced to obey.” His bright green eyes narrowed. “Or maybe that’s what you want? Do you want me to truss you up like some animal?”

The idea was not at all unfavorable, and Aldrae’s body showed as such as his erection bobbed between his legs. “If that is the punishment you would deem appropriate, Melies.” His voice dripped with demure sweetness.

Snickering, Meleis’ eyes fell to Aldrae’s flushed nethers. “Punishing you... pleasuring you... it’s all the same thing. The real punishment truly would be to do nothing, but...where’s the fun in that?” Turning away from the bed, Meleis went to his ornate dresser. He removed two belts, a silk one from one of his robes and a thicker leather strap.

His slender hands ran over both thoughtfully. “Now... which one shall I use to bind you and which to punish you...?” Meleis asked, walking with purposeful slowness back to Aldrae.

The sound of the leather creaking and the silk’s soft hiss in Meleis’ grip was as erotic as it was threatening. Aldrae’s slim chest rose and fell slowly with his deep breaths; he bit his lip thoughtfully. “That doesn’t seem like much of a choice. How can you punish me with silk?”

Meleis arched one long eyebrow. “Oh...There are, in fact, many ways. Some, I think you will like less than others.” He came to the edge of the bed and stood there one belt in each hand. “But I still leave the choice up to you. Do you want what you know, or what you have yet to imagine?”

Aldrae considered the choice, flicking his eyes between the leather strap and the silk bet. He did not enjoy pain, not beyond that which came from being entered or perhaps gripped a little too tightly. Meleis had never hurt him past the point of mild discomfort, but still a thrill of fear came with the thought of what he could to do his body with either belt.

His green eyes lifted to the warlock’s face. “Give me...what I have yet to imagine.”

“Very well. Put your hands above your head and cross your wrists.” Meleis crawled up on the bed beside the young priest and quickly bound his wrists together with the leather belt, securing them to the bed’s headboard. The feel of it pulled taut around his slender wrists, constricting but not enough to hurt, was wildly exciting for Aldrae. His heart was fluttering in his slender chest. To be so vulnerable to his Keeper...it had become an unexpected turn on for the young priest.

Meleis sat back on his calves, his cool green eyes falling on Aldrae’s face. The tips of his fingers stroked down his chest. “Now. You know I don’t want to hurt you, so I’m going to have to impress upon you the importance of staying calm and not struggling.

Aldrae licked his lips and nodded. “A-alright…” he replied with a shudder in his voice that echoed the fine tremor in his limbs. “I…I trust you, Meleis.”

“Foolish of you, but I suppose I’m flattered.” Melies smiled softly. “Lift your head off the bed.” When Aldrae complied he lay the silk belt across his throat and pulled each end behind his neck and out the other side.

When he tugged them, the belt tightened against Aldrae’s throat. The squeeze of silk against his skin him ache with anticipation. “O-oh, Meleis...”

“Relax,” the warlock murmured, lowering his hand to stroke his ward’s penis  with slow firmness. As he did, he slowly tightened the silk cord around Aldrae’s neck, knowing the constriction of oxygen would slowly heighten the physical sensations.

The priest barely noticed his slowly shortening breath, too consumed by his rising pleasure, until he tried to breathe and found his lungs a little tight. His eyes fluttered open and he made a soft, instinctual noise of fear.

Meleis’ spoke gentle, purring words of reassurance as he pleasured his lover. Aldrae calmed, and took what little, short breaths he could. A strange lightness blossomed in his head, bringing with it a fuzziness that made it hard to focus on much else save the intensifying pressure between his legs. The young priest didn’t even realize how much he was squirming on the bed, mewling and whimpering as his cock made a mess over Meleis’ knuckles.

“Do you like that?” Melies asked softly, his voice husky as he slowed his stroking and relaxed the grip of the belt.

“N-nn...yes…” Aldrae breathed in a deep sigh, his green eyes staring dazedly at him. His body felt tingly and hot. Having his air so constricted did frighten him, but he supposed that was a part of why it was so exciting. He rolled his hips into his hand, wanting more. More of his touch. More of his kisses. Everything. “I liked that.”

“See? There are plenty of ways to discipline with silk.” Meleis leaned down over the priest, taking his lips in a kiss. He pulled the silk tight around his neck again, and lowered his touch to Aldrae’s round, soft sac. “Do you want me to fuck you like this, Aldrae? With my belt around your neck? Do you want to know what it feels like to come while I choke you?”

The priest’s body spasmed, jerking on the bed with an involuntary shudder of desire and fear. Aldrae had indulged much in his years at Silvermoon and Stormwind, but nothing like what he had known with Meleis. He had opened up a new realm of indulgences he had never even considered.

He was afraid, but he could not fathom turning the offer down. Aldrae nodded without breaking his gaze, spreading his pale thighs invitingly.

Meleis left Aldrae’s side to collect the little vial of oil on his nightstand. He drizzled it into his fingers and stroked his own cock lewdly. He allowed Aldrae to watch for a few moments before he crawling between his white thighs.

Aldrae’s anus yielded easily against his slippery, firm fingers as they pushed inside him; Melies intended to tease the priest more than prepare him. While he did, he looked down Aldrae’s body, spread open and flushed pink as it writhed on the bed. “Mmm... you are just the picture of wantonness, do you know that?”   
  
Aldrae only panted in reply, and Meleis grinned toothily as he leaned over the elf. “That’s what I love best about you, you know,” he whispered huskily, guiding his cock between his rump. “What an utter--unrepentant--little--hedonist you are.”

Each word was punctuated by a forceful thrust, and Aldrae cried out as Meleis took him to the hilt in those few strokes. Despite the preparation, his body was still tight, not to mention aching from the long evening and morning of sex before. Still, his legs spread and his hot insides hungrily opened for Meleis. He wanted to put his arms around the warlock’s shoulders, but they were caught by his bonds.

“Meleis!” Aldrae whimpered, looking up at the older elf with glossy eyes. His feet planted flat on the bed and he rolled his hips upward wantonly. “P-please…”

Meleis chuckled, though the sound was tight. “Begging already, and we’ve only just gotten started.” He pushed Aldrae’s belly down to flatten him against the bed, tugging the leather restraint taut with the other so that he could not wriggle so freely.

Meleis then took up the ends of the silk belt in one hand and started to move isnide Aldrae, hips slapping against his full, round ass in hard strokes. As his rhythm slowly built, he jerked the belt taught in time with his thrusts, alternating between pulling and releasing.

“Nnn--!” Aldrae tried to speak, but could barely manage to moan. He did not even have the mental capacity to writhe in tempo with Melies’ thrust. Every time the silk belt drew taut, slowly robbing his lungs of air and building a steady, heady lightness in his brain, the priest thought he would pass out. His pleasure and fear ebbed into each other, one preceding the next and back to the former again. His breath fluttered, bare and shallow, and his slim chest heaved with every vigorous thrust.

He let Meleis take him completely, body pliant and limp on the bed as the warlock fucked and choked him. His long brows twisted above his pretty, glazed eyes and his fingers curled on his bonds. Between their bodies, his cock swayed lewdly, flicking pre across his belly.

“You are so beautiful, Aldrae,” Melies rasped. Cupping his face with his free hand, he leaned down to drawing his slack lips into a slow kiss that further robbed the elf of breath.

Meleis loosened the grip of the silk briefly, and Aldrae gasped against his mouth. “M-meleis...” he whispered deliriously, “I...I love it...when you are like this…”

“Like what? When I am both cruel and kind?” The warlock hissed, grinding firmly against Aldrae, reveling in his hot, snug suckling on his cock. “When have I ever been anything else to you?”

They kissed for a long moment, panting and moaning into each other’s mouths as Meleis rocked shallowly between Aldrae’s thighs. The slow build of pleasure was rising in both their bodies, and even Meleis did not want to delay their climax for long. “Are you ready to come? I want to take you right to the edge.”

The young elf didn’t have to answer. Meleis knew he was close. They both were. His hips quickened and he pulled the belt even tighter than before, now almost completely constricting his throat. Even through the haze of his own pleasure, he watched Aldrae carefully, measuring his constricted breathing and the approach of his orgasm by the expressions of his face and the writhing of his body. All the while, he fucked him, hard and deeply.

Aldrae’s mind was gone, consumed by his heightening ecstasy. So often he felt like he was caught in a tide with Meleis, rocked to and fro in the torrential waves he could not escape. Now it was a heavy blanket over him, warm and smothering, pressing down on him from all sides and even within. Like it would just swallow him up and take him away into a blissful end.

And his end was indeed blissful. Just before the young priest was about to black out, Meleis released his grip on the silk. The resulting surge of air and the euphoric release of chemicals in Aldrae’s oxygen starved brain sent him into an orgasm unlike anything he had ever felt before. The priest inhaled a rush of air and expelled it in a high, strained scream. He did not even notice how he jerked beneath Meleis, weakly pulling at his leather bonds, spine arching and feet pushing wantonly off the bed. He did not feel how tight he became around his Keeper as arcs of white seed splashed across their bellies.

All he felt was everything, at once, wholly, and more intensely than he ever had. Pain and pleasure both. Tears streaked down Aldrae’s flushed cheeks, face twisted into a beautiful expression of rapturous agony.

In all the ways Meleis had taken Aldrae and in all the ways he had seen him it had never been quite like this. That scream of ecstasy was like beautiful music. The thrashing of his body, so tight around his cock, was almost painful. No. It was painful, but he loved it all the same. All he could do was hold onto the priest’s hips as he continued to fuck him right into his own orgasm.

He came hard and copiously, strand after strand of his hot seed pushing into Aldrae’s twisting body. He filled him to overflowing, the sticky fluid dribbling out and down his round backside.

Their mutual descent was slow and almost agonizing. Meleis moaned softly as he reached for Aldrae’s hands, freeing them of their bonds and then gently removing the silken cord from around his neck. He had not meant to hurt Aldrae, but there were red marks against his pale throat. Tenderly, he kissed the indents tenderly,and murmured comfortingly as his body continued to undulate between the priest’s legs.

As wild as Aldrae’s ascent into his orgasm had been, so were the aftershocks of it. They rippled through his body like bolts of arcane, leaving him jerking and pulsing even when his body sagged bonelessly into the bed. Smaller spurts of seed continued to leak from his cock and his legs and arms writhed weakly atop the bedspread. He groaned pitifully, eyes wet, fluttering and unfocused behind their fel-green glow. The kisses on his bruised throat were soft and seering at the same time.

It took him forever to come down from his physical high and regain some semblance of awareness. As the distinctions of his form and Meleis’ became more evident again, so did the pain from the pleasure. He whimpered as Meleis rocked between his quivering thighs, though his hips still gyrated in reply, greedy for every sensation. Everything felt so sharp now, nearly too much. He loved it.

“Shhh... shhh...” the warlock hushed him softly, running his hands along his sides to hips to settle them. “Be calm. Be still.” Slowly he pulled his hips back, sliding from his ward with a groan. Flopping ungracefully down onto the bed beside the priest, Melies chuckled weakly and drew Aldrae into his arms.

“That seemed to be a lot for you,” he murmured softly. “But you also enjoyed it. Thoroughly. Am I wrong?”

“Nnn...uh...uh-huh…” the priest managed to grunt, twining his legs with Meleis’ and burrowing his hand in the long hair draped beneath his ear. His fingers were trembling and sensitive; the silky texture of it running between them was wonderful.

“I don’t know if that was a yes or a no.” Meleis held Aldrae, stroking his back and letting him slowly settle and come back to himself. Occasionally he brushed his lips against his hair or his brow in tender kisses and calming murmurs.

Gradually, Aldrae’s breath evened out and his heartbeat became slow and steady. His throat was a little dry and raw and his lower body ached, but it was not unpleasant. He sighed a content, sensual moan. The young elf turned his face into Meleis’ neck and shoulder. “I...I loved it,” he whispered shyly.

Meleis had almost started dozing; his ward’s words brought a smile to his lips. “Good. I’d hoped you would. I would not want you to endure something you did not enjoy. Can I get you anything? Water? Wine? Food?”

“Mmm…” The priest purred, undulating against the other elf. He kissed Meleis’ neck. “No. I don’t need anything.”

“That’s good. I want you to feel safe and relaxed. You had a very intense moment, and you did very well. I was very pleased and very pleasured.”’

“I was too. And I feel very safe and relaxed.” Aldrae nuzzled Meleis’ throat. “How did you know to do that? I have never felt something like that before, and I never thought, well...being choked would bring such pleasure.”

Meleis smiled faintly. “I told you, I used to attend boudoir soirees. I had teachers once. I learned a lot. I’ve experienced it myself.”

Aldrae hummed thoughtfully in the crook of his Keeper’s neck. He had only heard of the extravagant, indulgent, and exclusive parties given by the self-proclaimed hedonists of Silvermoon. He had thought his experiences in Stormwind dallying with young priests and paladins could compare, but perhaps not. “What...other things did you learn?” his bright eyes lifted to Meleis’ face.

“Mmm... much of what I have already shared with you. The importance of a firm hand at times and a soft one at others.” He lowered his lips to murmur in Aldrae’s ear. “Other things you can do with silk and leather, or other tools. Sweet things... mean things...”

The priest shuddered and despite the lethargy of his body, he felt warmth pooling in his loins again. “I would have liked to learn such things. Maybe attended one of those parties. But I am enjoying learning with you now.”

“Perhaps one day you will be the teacher,” Meleis murmured, stroking Aldrae’s soft blonde curls from his face.

Snickering tiredly, the priest shook his head. “I don’t know about that…” he whispered, though the idea wasn’t at all unappealing. His cock continued to stir against Meleis’ leg, but weariness and his Keeper’s tender touches and kisses were too soothing. It wasn’t long before Aldrae’s eyes were closed and he was breathing evenly, curled snugly against Meleis.  
  
Listening to Aldrae’s quiet breaths as he held him in the afterglow of their sex, Meleis was suddenly filled with a deep melancholy. He had never been a particularly tender man, and it was strange and sad to feel so sentimental toward the priest. He wasn’t a sadist, at least not strictly for the pleasure of hurting others, nor would he consider himself a man without emotion. It made him wonder if this tenderness had always been there, and if he had purposefully kept it hidden from himself and his charge. Or was it just that, at the end of things, it was easier to go along with whatever made Aldrae happy...what, perhaps, made him happy?

So which was the lie? Or was there any lie at all? Could a man grow into love for no logical reason at all?

There weren't really any answers to his questions, and he was too tired to fight against it, or to try to let his pride exert his baser self. Instead he just gently moved himself and Aldrae to lie correctly in the bed, pulling the soft, if somewhat threadbare, covers around them as the pillows cradled their bodies.

He watched the young priest sleep, touching his cheek and caressing his bruised neck, wondering about Aldrae’s future and, to a lesser extent,  his own before falling asleep.


	5. Dawn

Meleis was up nearly all night debating with himself on what the morning would bring. When the dawn greeted him, he was still wrestling with his uncertainty.

In the last couple of weeks, he and Aldrae had barely been apart. They slept, ate, and bathed together. He was even been able to take Aldrae riding as he wished, going as far as the Plateau, or at least what part of it was actually accessible and safe. The increased presence of demons as well as Sunblade and Sunsworn elves was indicative of the “official” word that would finally trickle down to them: the invasion had landed. The forces calling themselves the Shattered Sun Offensive had already taken back part of the outer village, and were poised for pushing toward the Magister's Terrace. The Sunwell would be next.

The time for inaction had passed, yet Meleis was not ready to act. He was uncertain how to act, because his concerns had extended far beyond himself and his desires now.

Aldrae, on the other hand, slept deeply, as he had every night for the past several days. Unlike Meleis, it was easier for the priest to lose himself in their bubble of escapism than face the dark truths and inevitable ends that lurked toward them. Whereas before he was wrought with anxiety and fear when the invasion was still just a rumor, now he felt oddly calm. Perhaps it was just acceptance of his fate, made easier by the enjoyable days he and Meleis spent together. Aldrae did not like to think of himself as someone willfully and ignorantly complacent. Yet it was just...easier.

The sun was still barely above the horizon, so Meleis left the large armchair at his desk to return to bed. The elf slid beneath the covers with his ward and, brushing his hand lightly over his full hip, wrapped his arm around him to spoon close to his back. Responding to the warmth at his back, Aldrae mewled in his sleep. He unconsciously hugged Meleis’ arms closer to his body.

Meleis smiled fondly and pressed the first of many soft kisses against the back of Aldrae’s neck, trailing them down his spine and to his shoulders. His hips rocked shallowly against his backside while his hands gently rubbed his soft, flat stomach. If this was going to be their last morning together, he could at least make it a good one.

Aldrae’s body reacted even in his sleep; his soft, pale flesh warmed with heat, and his soft cock twitched between his thighs at the feel of Meleis' grinding against his rump. He made a soft, inquisitive noise as he began to stir, eyes opening to bare green slits. “Mmm...Meleis?” he whispered sleepily.

“Yes, it's me,” Meleis replied with a grin. He grazed his teeth lightly against Aldrae's shoulder. “Though I'm a little curious what you would do if it wasn't.”

In his half-sleep, Aldrae didn’t understand the warlock's words, but he smiled all the same to hear his voice. “Meleis…” His back arched invitingly, rump pressing against the older elf’s crotch.

“Mmm, good morning to you as well, my lord.” Reaching between their bodies, Meleis gave his own stiffening cock a few strokes before working the head between Aldrae's buttocks. He knew his lover was still prepared from their quick, passionate sex during the middle hours of night and morning. Without much ceremony, he pushed his hips forward and inside the small elf, thrusting shallowly and slowly to urge the priest’s body open.

Whimpering, Aldrae looked over his shoulder, curly waves of blonde falling in his pretty fel-green eyes. He winced at the sharp, wonderful pain of his sore muscles being stretched open again by his lover’s cock.

“What a face. If I didn't know better I might almost think you didn't like it.” Meleis long fingers smoothed down Aldrae’s thigh, tugging it up and back over his hip to open him further. Grunting, he snapped forward to hilt himself in the elf. “But I know better.”

“Ahhh!” Aldrae cried out. His head tipped back against the Meleis’ shoulder, chest swelling with deep breaths, and his hand reached back to burrow in his lover’s long black hair.

Meleis sighed near Aldrae's ear. “Don't worry. I'll be nice and gentle...for a little while at least. It's nice just to be inside you.”

The priest smiled dreamily, coming further out of his sleep. “Nnn...what did I do to...earn such sweetness?”

“You're here. That's enough.” Meleis closed his eyes, nuzzling the soft curls at Aldrae’s neck. “If you promise to keep your hips pressed back, I'll move my hand to your cock.”

A blush rose to his cheeks, more from Meleis’ sweeter words than the lewd ones. He nodded with a purr, and Meleis kissed his shoulder and moved his hand to his erection. “Did you sleep well?” Aldrae moaned as the hand slid slowly up and down between his legs.

“Next to you? Of course,” the warlock lied in a sweet murmur.

Aldrae smiled. “I'm glad. I like sleeping next to you.” Groaning, he fought the urge to rock his hips as his erection twitched in Meleis' fingers. “Especially when you wake me like this.”

Meleis chuckled throatily. “Well...you were lying here so sweetly, I just couldn't resist.” His hips found a slow, shallow rhythm. “I didn't think you would mind.”

Aldrae’s dark blonde brows drew together, lips trembling as the pleasure in his loins intensified with Meleis' slow rocking. “I don't. I want you to touch me all the time...I like...I love being yours, Meleis.”

The throb in Meleis’ chest was intense, but it was not the first time in the last two weeks he had felt such a pain. It was occasional at first. When Aldrae said things like that. When he watched the young man sleeping or saw him smiling in a moment of contentment or joy. Now, it happened all the time.

“Yes, you are mine,” Meleis said quietly. He hugged the small priest tighter, pressing his face into his hair. “And I... I love having you, Aldrae.”

Aldrae’s closed his eyes and sighed. Now he could not help but roll his hips in time with Meleis' shallow thrusting. “K-keep moving like this,” he panted, fingers flexing in his hair. “Sweet and slow...like…” He swallowed a knot in his throat. “Like you are making love to me.”

“I am making love to you, Aldrae. I want you to thoroughly enjoy yourself. This morning is for you."

Though he still panted with pleasure, a pang of sadness stung Aldrae. He turned his head toward Meleis, tightening his arm on the warlock's. "Why? It should be for both of us. Are you not enjoying this?"

"Of course I am. Can't you tell?" He rocked firmly against the other elf to punctuate his words. "But I know sometimes I can be a boor. So I wanted to give you a sweet moment this morning."

The priest giggled. "You are not a boor, Meleis. I have enjoyed every moment with you. Even the rougher ones. But I am glad because...I love this as much as I have loved everything else."

Aldrae moaned and laughed again at the same time. "Though perhaps a little more."

Meleis' smiled dotingly. "Then let me continue to indulge you."

Bucking his hips a little harder, yet keeping his pace deep and smooth, Meleis continued to make slow, firm love to the young priest. He allowed himself to be more vocal than usual, grunting and groaning huskily, letting his lover hear his pleasure. Aldrae's sounds were sweeter and higher, and Meleis closed his eyes to indulge in the beautiful melody of their voices layered over one another.

Soon, Aldrae's body was quivering and tightening on him, and the priest's whimpers and gasps were became more fussy with his rising ecstasy. He bid Aldrae to come with coaxing, demanding words, pushing deep into his tight insides and stroking his cock with the same attentive skill. And as he came, sobbing his name and twitching in his embrace, Meleis did not expect his own orgasm to follow so quickly. Suddenly overcome with pleasure and emotion, he spent himself deep inside the beautiful young man that, he knew, he would probably soon part with forever. "Aldrae!"

Even in the haze of his climax, it stunned Aldrae to hear Meleis call his name in such a way. Never had he spoken it in such a strained tone, filled with uncontrolled pleasure and passion. "Meleis," he whimpered in reply, turning as best as he could to press his mouth longingly against the other elf's, a tear rolling down his cheek.

Meleis' hand slipped from Aldrae's waist so that he could cup his face. "Don't cry," he panted against his pink mouth.

Aldrae swallowed the sorrow that threatened to rise up and mar the moment. He knew Meleis hated tears and was usually invulnerable to such emotion; but he kept kissing him, tender and patiently, until the sadness dulled. "I'm sorry that...just felt wonderful..."

"Mmmm...I'm glad.” Meleis’ knuckles caressed Aldrae's jaw before his arms wrapped snugly around him. “It was certainly not my intent to upset you. I have enjoyed the little world we created here together.”

They kissed for a moment longer; when their lips parted, the priest sighed. “This is...the closest thing I have felt to...being home.”

Meleis’ dropped his lips to his shoulder and let them rest there. A brief silence followed before he spoke. “We can’t wait any longer. If you ever want to be home again, we must act soon.”

Aldrae blinked and, turning his head, stared at him with wide eyes. “Wha...what?”

“The invasion has started. Soon they will break through into the Plateau. It's only a matter of time. They will kill anyone remaining here and they won't stop to ask questions.” Meleis’ head lifted and he looked down at the other elf. “If you're going to survive I have to get you to the invaders now.”

His heart had been throbbing in his chest; now, Aldrae swore it was stopped. His thoughts were robbed from him, though not necessarily from fear. Thrumming through his body, his giddiness was rising to an overwhelming numbness. “ You...you will come with me, right?”

Meleis’ lips pursed. “As far as I can. You have been a captive, unknowing participant in all of this, but I...I have been a willing follower of Kael'thas. I am to them a traitor and I am not unknown. I will likely be executed for my actions if I fall into their hands. But we are both likely to die if we remain here.”

“Then you have to come with me.” Aldrae’s voice was strained with insistence. He leaned back, looking at Meleis with his fearful eyes. “You can...you can ask for forgiveness. You can offer them aid. What you know would be invaluable to their forces. They could not kill you.”

“We shall see.” Meleis smiled, faintly and without humor. “They may simply kill both of us on sight. Who can know.”

Aldrae opened his mouth to retort, but the sound became a squeak as Meleis withdrew from his body. He was glad the warlock was behind him. He felt his eyes prickling above his reddened cheeks. For days they had been willingly lost in the opulence that surrounded them. It muffled the churning, inevitable chaos to a distant rumble; yet still it continued to encroach. They were not protected in a stronghold; they were captive in a prison. And it was inevitable that prison was going to collapse on them both.

The priest rolled over, mounting Meleis' hips. His hands clenched angrily on his bare shoulders, fingers trembling.

"Swear to me..." Aldrae's voice came out in a bare croak. He dug his nails into Meleis' skin, and hissed with more authority, "Swear to your prince regent that you will be at my side. Until the end. If I go free, then you will come with me. If you perish...then I will perish too."

"No!" the warlock barked sharply, dark brows furrowed. Sitting up, he easily snatched Aldrae's small wrists in his hands. Aldrae squeaked, jerking back in Meleis hold more out of surprise at his fury than the pain of his desperate grip. "I will not make you that promise! I am your Keeper. If my death will ensure your safety then I will gladly give it!”

He squeezed the elf’s wrists harder. “It is you who must promise me that you would not foolishly lay down beside me and die.”

“No! I refuse!” Aldrae jerked feebly in Meleis’ grip. “I have nothing but you, Meleis! My brother is gone! My family is gone! My home is gone! I told you! You--*

The young elf swallowed a sob, bowing his head. “You...are all I have...I will not lose you...I do want to be alone…”

“You have to live. You are important, Aldrae. You are important to our people. To--”

Meleis sighed and dropped their hands to the bed. Aldrae’s eyes lifted and found the elf staring dolefully at him, his ears sagging. He had never seen him exhibit such an expression. “Please, Aldrae…you have to live. Saving you... it's all I have left. If you die I will never be able to redeem myself.”

He leaned in, touching his forehead against the priest’s. “Please. Promise me you will live. For me. Because I love you. And if I cannot save you then I have failed in this life completely.”

Meleis, Aldrae’s cold, haughty, and possessive Keeper, sat before him, ears drooped and shoulders sagged. His face looked earnestly pained, and his eyes were low and filled with sadness.

And he loved him. Meleis said he loved him.

Stunned, Aldrae gawked at him for a long moment, tears rolling down his round cheeks. “And if you die…” he managed to murmur. “I will be alone...I will have lost the...the only person left that I love…

His soft fingers trembled against Meleis’ jaw. “Even if I died with you, you would not have failed. In these past weeks, I have been happier than I have been in a long while. And I would take that happiness with me to the underworld.”

Huffing softly, Meleis drew his arms around Aldrae’s smaller form and drew him in tightly against his chest. “Aldrae, please,” Melies said again, and though his voice was still tender there was a firmness in his tone. “I am not a man who begs. But I will beg you for this if you make me. I will not throw my life away foolishly, but I will protect you. And I need to know that you will not waste my sacrifice if I must make it.”

Again, Aldrae wanted to protest, but nothing came from his parted lips. He closed them, feeling defeated and frightened, and let his head fall against Meleis' shoulder. Warm tears dripped onto his pale skin.

“I....I will promise…” he finally muttered. “Only...only if you say...if you say it again…”

The warlock caressed his long fingers up and down his ward’s back. “Say what?” His chest was aching, but his lips played at a smile with gentle teasing. “Please?”

Aldrae made a noise of frustration in his throat, leaning back to glare at the man; his eyes were wet and pleading. The expression was charming, if sad, and Meleis continued to smile as he cupped Aldrae’s face. “I love you, Aldrae. I have never loved anything in this world but myself...except for you.”

The words were terrible and beautiful. Aldrae wanted to weep in that moment but all he felt capable of were a few, slow tears. He took Meleis’ face in his hands and leaned into the older elf’s touch. “Meleis…I'm...so glad...I'm so glad we are here together…”

“As am I. Though it would have been far better for you if we had never met at all.” His forehead bowed to press against Aldrae’s. “We don't have to leave right away. But we should go well before evening.”

Aldrae did not agree with Meleis’ first statement, but he did not say so. There was no reason to begin more debating when they could be sharing their last morning together. “Then...I want to make love until then. I want to kiss and touch and I want you to tell me you love me over and over.” The priest smirked. “I command it.”

Meleis snorted. “You just said I only had to say it that one more time. I'm finding you very dishonest right now.”

Aldrae smiled wider. “Then just make love to me. That will be enough.”

“Mmm….” Meleis carded his fingers through his lover’s fleecy blonde hair. “Perhaps I will feel inclined to say it a few more times.” He nuzzled Aldrae’s nose. “You are quite beautiful, you know.” 

Blushing darkly, Aldrae leaned back to rub at his nose as he sniffled. “I must look like a red mess right now...I am sorry for crying.”

“It's alright. I just did not want to see you sad today.”

“I don't think there is anyway that is avoidable. But....” Smiling once more, he put his hands on Meleis’ shoulders. The priest leaned forward, urging his lover to lay back again. “I am much more happy than I am sad.”

“Well, that is something.” His eyes hooded dreamily, and his hands roamed over the young elf’s narrow waist and wide, round hips sensually. “Lovely Aldrae…”

Aldrae smiled bashfully and spread his thighs on both sides of Meleis’ hips. “You are a flatterer, Master Tenebrous.” Soft blonde curls tickling against Meleis’ chin, he lowered his head and slowly and sweetly kissed the man’s mouth.

Their bodies undulating shallowly against one another, hands tugging and caressing, the two elves kissed unhurried and indulgently for a long while. Aldrae was hard again, and he moaned into Meleis’ mouth as his erection rubbed against the other’s belly. He wanted to take in every aspect of Meleis--his breath, the touch of his hands, the feel of his hair, the taste of his mouth--everything about him so that he could commit it to memory. So he would never forget.

His eyes began to sting and Aldrae moved his hands to his Keeper’s face. “I love you, Meleis.”

“And I love you,” Meleis whispered back. The words were strange to say as they are not words he had ever though he would say, but they were true nonetheless. If he was not facing the very real possibility of his imminent death he might have been more concerned about the admission, but it seemed of little importance now. He loved Aldrae. It didn't matter why or how such a thing had come about. It was true and their time was very short.

The sudden, sharp knock at the door startled both of them. Not even the servants had disrupted them in the last few days. They all had either fled or been called to “higher duties” by the Sunsworn. The two elves had been holed away to themselves long enough for Aldrae to forget that the Plateau was far from unpopulated.

The knock came again, and Aldrae looked at the warlock, his gaze tense and questioning. Gaze narrowing shrewdly, Meleis growled in irritation as he gently pushed Aldrae off his lap. “Stay here.”

Meleis grabbed a robe from the back of a chair as he walked across the large room, and secured the garment hastily around his waist before unlocking and opening the door. Waiting on the other side was a tall warlock wearing the emerald and black robes of the Sunbalde’s ever faithful, if not fanatical, Cabalists. Folded, nearly translucent green wings fluttered at his back. Behind him stood a hulking, stoic felguard.

“It’s early morning yet, and I’ve asked explicitly not to be disturbed,” Meleis snapped. “What do you want?”

The elf met Meleis’ brusque greeting with a faint, if slightly amused, smile. “Did I...” His electric yellow-green eyes hooded as his nostrils flared in an almost animal-like way. “...wake you?”

“No. You did not. You interrupted my morning coitus. Now answer my question, Nuvarin,” Meleis folded his arms.

“Oh, well...then I’m almost doubly regretful to be here,” Nuvarin replied with a soft tut. The grin on his lips was anything but remorseful. “I came to relieve you of your...duties. Lord Sunbound has been summoned and is to come with me immediately. I was a little concerned when he was not in his chambers, but…” His head canted, eyes looking past the warlock. “I assume I’m interrupting him as well.”

Meleis’ eyes narrowed and he felt an icy chill in his veins. They should have left as soon as they woke that morning. “You have no authority to relieve me of anything. I was appointed Lord Sunbound’s Keeper by Prince Kael’thas himself, and I will remain his Keeper until he relieves me of the position. Himself. Lord Sunbound is summoned by no one without my consent and attendance.” 

“And it is by our Prince’s word--from his very lips to my ears--that I am here, Meleis.” Nuvarin’s tone was that of an adult speaking to a protesting child, brows furrowed in an expression of sympathy for his obvious ignorance. “I do not know if you have left your chambers in the last few days, but things have changed. Our situation has moved toward a more...dire state, and our Sun King would ensure that his only living heir is safe.”

He smiled, and his burning fel eyes narrowed. “My position has changed to one that does give me authority, Meleis. Granted to me by the Grand Warlock herself. And yours…” Nuvarin chuckled faintly, eyes dropping to Meleis’ hastily donned robe. “Well, as much as you’ve been reveling in it, you are needed for much more important tasks now. You’ll be pleased to know that you shall ascend to a title much more deserving than that of Keeper.”

Meleis snorted. “I know very well we are shortly to be under siege. I’m not as out of the situation as you might like to think, Nuvarin.” He straightened his spine and looked down at the other elf, twisted and disgustingly corrupted by the slavering demons that had come to infest their holy place. His lips curled. “I would be remiss in my duty as Keeper - even if as you say it is to become a former position - if I simply accepted your word and turned over our precious heir to you with no proof of your claims. Bring me an official document with our Prince's seal or that of the Grand Warlock and will gladly accept my new orders. Until then I will not simply give him to you just because of your say-so.” 

Nuvarin’s expression continued to be blandly amused and he sighed. Reaching into the folds of his robe, the warlock withdrew a scroll of paper from his pocket and lazily extended it toward Meleis. The seal of the Sunstrider family was pressed into an unbroken wax binding on its edges. “The ink may still be wet,” Nuvarin said, tongue clicking on the last syllable.

Meleis felt another cold tremor as his stomach twisted. He opened the missive and read it over, then looked at Nuvarin with an irritated scowl. The elf was such a self-important, theatrical simperer. “Why didn’t you simply show this to me in the first place?”

Shoving the scroll back at the felblood, Meleis stepped back to close the door. “We need to dress. Wait here.” 

The felguard’s hand smacked loudly against the door, its dark, enormous shadow falling over both Nuvarin and Melies as it stepped forward. The felblood elf’s eyes blazed in its darkness, illuminating his shrewdly curled lips.

“I’m afraid it has to be now, Meleis,” Nuvarin said coolly. As his demon pushed open the door wider, Nuvarin stepped forward to brush past Meleis into the room. “And we don’t need you. Not right now. The letter said, after all that -I- am to return with Lord Sunbound. Not you. You’re to wait here until further orders are delivered.”  
Meleis’ temper flared and his bright eyes flashed, whipping around to watch Nuvarin sauntering into his quarters. Aldrae had risen from the bed, and was now anxiously standing at the edge of its platform, a robe pulled around his shoulders. He gasped as Nuvarin began to approach him.

In an instant, Meleis was reaching into the wells of his own stored fel energy. Before Nuvarin could make it past his desk, he banished the felguard and stepped between the fel elf and the bed. Nuvarin gasped, his large demon wings flaring out aggressively. 

“You...” Melies seethed, “”...will not disrespect Lord Sunbound, no matter your position. He is indecent and your presence violates his privacy.” He stepped closer toward the felblood, dark energy crackling at his fingertips. “You will return to the hallway. And you will wait there until he is dressed and ready for you. And I will keep your oversized pet bound until that time.” 

His lips curled in a snarl. “Now get out of my chambers, you simpering fool.” 

“You seem rather resistant to a command handed down from the Sun King himself, Tenebrous!” Nuvarin hissed at him, his own fingers curled at his sides and sparking with acrid fel magic. “I am a High Cabalist of the Sunblade, and you are no more than a glorified wet nurse! You have no right to challenge my word and the word of your Prince!”

His eyes flicked to Aldrae, and his sneer curled into a little smirk. “Forgive me, my lord, for disturbing you, and for this inappropriate display by your Keeper,” he said with a low bow, arms still tense at his sides. “But your cousin has summoned you to his side, and you must come with me. Immediately.” 

The priest’s eyes widened and his trembling fingers tightened on his robe. “O-oh…” was all he could think to say at first, gaze flicking to Meleis. His Keeper looked barely in control of his rage, but Aldrae assumed that under his furious countenance was the same anxious fear bubbling up inside him. They should have left.

Turning his attention to Nuvarin again, Aldrae swallowed and forced a louder voice from his lips. “I will not greet my cousin dressed so slovenly and unclean,” he said, voice absent of its fearful tremor but not as commanding as he would have liked. He lifted his chin and narrowed his eyes. “And how dare you speak to my Keeper that way when it is he who has been at my side and kept me safe. Now. Do as he said. I will be out shortly.”

Mouth gaping, Nuvarin gawked dumbly at Aldrae. Finally he closed his lips and stood straighter, clearing his throat. “Forgive me, my lord,” he replied with a deep bow. “It’s just...I am anxious to get you to safety and we have very little time, so...please...hurry as quickly as you can. I will wait just outside.”

After a brief, cold glance to the other warlock, Nuvarin strode toward the door with a dramatic swish of his robes. When it clicked closed behind him, Aldrae became abruptly aware his legs were shaking beneath his robe. His green eyes lifted to Meleis’, but he said nothing as he sank to his knees on the floor.

Meleis hurried to Aldrae’s side, crouching down to put his hands on his shoulders. “I don’t know if Nuvarin is telling the truth or not. Either way... we have now missed our opportunity to leave.” He sighed, lips tight with frustration and anger. “Come, we have to get you dressed. Dawdling will only raise Nuvarin’s suspicions.” 

Even if the young priest wanted to rise from the floor, he couldn’t. A cold numbness weighted his limbs and threatened to drag his heart into his stomach. “Where...where will he take me? To the Terrace?” Aldrae’s stiffly shook his head. “We’ll never be able to escape if I go there. I’ll be trapped when the siege comes. They’ll…” He whimpered. “They’ll kill me, Meleis…”

“I won’t let that happen,” Meleis replied firmly, fingers tightening on Aldrae’s shoulders. “I am your Keeper and no matter what papers Nuvarin has or what Kael’thas says, nothing changes that.”

Meleis left Aldrae to go to his desk, and out of a box he retrieved a necklace. From the length of chain hung a bright green pendant, the stones identical to those of the necklace and diadem he had gifted to Aldrae.

Meleis put the pendant around his own throat before finding Aldrae’s jewelry amid the tangle of bedding on the floor. “These were meant to be more than pretty gifts to you, Aldrae,” he said, kneeling in front of the priest. “These stones have been enchanted to resonate with the pendant I’m wearing. It was a way for me to keep track of you, in case you tried to flee or someone attempted to abduct you.”

He looked into Aldrae’s eyes as he slipped the long necklace of emeralds over the young priest’s head. “Did I not impress upon you that you should always wear this for me?” Meleis took Aldrae’s hand and pressed it to the pendent laying against his own chest. “See how it knows you are near?” 

The emerald set in antique gold was warm and pulsating like a heart beating under Aldrae’s palm. He squeezed his eyes tightly as his head bowed, but tears had already escaped. “I don’t want to lose you,” Aldrae whispered weakly. “I love you, Meleis. I’m...I’m so scared…”

Meleis felt the unfamiliar sensation of his heart twisting in his chest. He pulled Aldrae close and pressed his lips to his flaxen hair. “Don’t be afraid. Now is the time for bravery. Others think you are weak--even I once thought so--but I was wrong. You are strong and you have the courage to face this. I will find you and get you away from this awful place. I will not let you be a pawn in Kael’thas’ madness any longer. Whatever you do. Do not let them take that necklace and crown. They are my lifeline to you.” 

He wrapped his arms around Aldrae, holding him under his chin, and the priest embraced him tightly. Aldrae did not want to let Meleis go, and for as long as the older elf allowed he hid in the embrace of his arms. He felt anything but strong and brave in that moment and, shamefully, he would have preferred to make a desperate attempt to flee with Meleis than go with the Cabalist and hope his Keeper could rescue him.

He did not resist when Meleis released him and stood, gently taking his hands to pull him up from the floor. “Now, hurry. You need to dress. Nuvarin will not be put off forever.”

There wasn’t time for a bath, only a quick wash to wipe away the remnants of their love making. Was that morning the last time they would ever have each other? The last time they would ever kiss and indulge one another? It made Aldrae’s heart ache to think so. They may have been able to escape that morning had they left immediately after waking, but then they would not have had such a wonderfully tender and sensual moment together. That alone was almost worth it.

Aldrae’s dressed in his slightly rumpled tunic and breeches, then briefly brushed his hair in the mirror before returning to the bedroom. Meleis was dressed as well, donning his usual dark robes, his long hair pulled back into a low tail.

Aldrae’s tired, reddened eyes fell to the diadem still waiting for him at the edge of Meleis’ bed. He picked it up and extended it toward the warlock. “W-would you…?” he murmured, long ears fallen and voice soft.

Meleis took the diadem and gently placed it on Aldrae’s head, securing the combs into his blond curls. He smoothed Aldrae’s hair back from his face, stroking it affectionately, and then drew his young lover into a soft kiss. It was more sad and longing than passionate, but still it was sweet and he let it linger for as long as they dared.

Their lips barely parted, he murmured, “Be brave. Try to have faith in me.” Meleis chuckled weakly. “Trust me, even though I’ve told you time and again not to.” 

Aldrae smirked just as sadly “I have always trusted you, Meleis. Even when you told me not to.” 

He pulled away with a sniffle, knowing he would lose what composure he barely managed to muster. Aldrae wiped his eyes and dried his face on the back of his sleeve, then exhaled. “I’m ready.”

They walked together to the doors of Meleis’ chamber. Nuvarin was, as commanded, still waiting, with his re-summoned felguard. “Thank you for your patience, Nuvarin,” Meleis said, his handsome face and voice wearing their usual aloofness. “Lord Sunbound is now appropriately attired to meet our Prince. I will wait here for further information on this ‘elevated’ position you mentioned.” 

Aldrae managed a wan smile as the felblood bowed deeply to him. “I appreciate you waiting.”

“I am so glad I did. You look as radiant as the Sun King himself,” Nuvarin replied, ignoring Meleis completely. He grinned and gestured down the corridor. “Shall we go, my lord? We should not keep our Prince waiting any longer.”

Jaw tightening behind his lips, Aldrae nodded. The priest turned and glanced over his shoulder at Meleis. Light, let this not be the last time I see him...he prayed.

“Thank you for your service, Master Tenebrous,” he said, and despite his formal words he could not suppress the emotion that crept into his voice. Nor could he keep from smiling. “Thank you...for protecting me.”

Meleis’ face remained haughtily cool, not wanting to bely anything Nuvarin could use to his own advantage. He bowed formally to Aldrae. “It has been my honor, my Lord...and my great pleasure.”

Aldrae did not expect him to take his hand and bring it to his lips, kissing his knuckles with a brief, but warm smile. Cheeks burning, the priest met Meleis’ hooded gaze; his own eyes were prickling. I hope you will condescend to visit me again when time and duties permit.” 

He squeezed Aldrae’s hand before stepping back. “Shindo Sin’dorei,” he intoned formally. 

Aldrae’s hands clasped together at his waist, fingers caressing over the tingling flesh where the feel of Meleis’ lips lingered. “Shin’do Sin’dorei,” he replied with a little nod and after a pause, “Shorel’aran.”

Turning away hesitantly from his Keeper and lover, Aldrae followed Nuvarin down the long hallway away from Meleis quarters. He could feel his gaze lingering on his back as the distance between them grew. “Where are we going?” the priest asked, trying to distract himself.

“Somewhere safe, my lord,” Nuvarin replied. He grinned over his shoulder, fel-green eyes squinting. Aldrae had seen such a smile enough times before that he knew it was not earnest. “You will be well protected, and comfortable. I shall see to that myself...and you will not need to give me anything in return. The honor is more than enough.”

Feeling his ears burn, Aldrae’s eyes left the felblood’s. “Thank you,” he muttered, swallowing the immediate defensiveness for Meleis that roiled up in his throat. He did not want to look back and see him standing there. Or not see him standing there. He didn’t know which would be worse.

But as they turned the corner, Aldrae’s eyes sought him out. He was there, still watching from the doorway, and his heart ached. The priest’s lips quirked up sadly and he raised his hand in farewell before disappearing from view.


End file.
